The Chained Fox
by Exanime Draco
Summary: We all know the stories about the Champion's many adventures in Kirkwall and the changes it brought to the world. But what if everything we knew was only a part of the story? What if one of the Champion's companions had been left out of the story to protect him? For what reason could Naruto Uzumaki need to be erased from the tales of the Champion. Find out as the truth is revealed!
1. Chapter 1

**Hello to all my readers...or hopeful readers you never really know what will happen on this site. As you probably can figure out by now this is my first story. I originally started writing it months ago but suffered from a severe case of writers block. In any case the writers block seems to have disappeared...for now at least. The first chapter isn't as long as I had hoped it would be but I still think it's really good. But I'm starting to babble and boring you...if you haven't already ignored this statement. SO I'll just get on with the story and let you read and review.**

**One last thing before I do though I'm looking for a beta reader, so let me know if your interested.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to the Naruto anime/manga or the Dragon Age books, anime, or games. Though I do own a copy of Dragon Age 2 but that is all. Unfortunately…Well on with the story!**

Chapter 1 The Past Always Comes Back

"Upon defeating Knight Commander Merideth the Champion and the rest of us stayed together for a while. That is until certain….circumstances caused us all to go our separate ways. Well except Isabella she stayed with the Champion and for all I know she's still with the Champion where ever they might be right now." Was the response that a very small individual sitting in a stone arm chair. The individual paused to take a breath winded from telling such a long story. Not that he minded telling the story, after it was a good story that seemed to get better with every telling, at least that was his opinion. "And there you have it Seeker, that's the truth about how things really happened with the Champion. So…Can I go now?" The man asked the Seeker. Who else would he have asked as the only people in the room aside form himself happened to be the two men guarding the door. Well that and the very frustrated, possibly sleep deprived, armored woman who looked ready to stab him with that sword she was now holding to his throat.

"We have been here for almost three days and its only today that I find out you've been lying to me this whole time Varric!" Varric opened his mouth to speak only to have the edge of that ever so sharp blade pressed a little bit harder to his throat almost as if daring him to try and spout off the lie he had been about to tell. Varric just wisely decided that it would probably be within his best interests to just close his mouth and let things play out. Though he was just barely able to contain his laughter at the uncontrolled rage that was clearly evident, (if the Seekers ranting was anything to go by) he still had to hide his amused grin behind his hand. It was that or do nothing and see if the Seeker tried to have him become involved in a more intimate relationship with him. A relationship that no doubt involved a kiss between the tender flesh of his neck and the steel edge of the Seeker's ever so sharp blade.

'That's a good description. I'll have to use that in a story someday' Varric thought to himself. By now the Seeker had calmed herself….that is if one can be considered calm but ready to violently explode at the slightest irritation. At least that was what Varric gathered from the pulsing veins on the Seekers forehead and the almost violent twitch in her eye. "I'll admit that you would have had even me fooled, if it weren't for the stories my men had gathered regarding the exploits of the Champion and the exploits of the Champion's companions today. You provided me with just enough truth about everyone and filtered out certain details here and there to escape my notice but not anymore." Varric's face took on an expression of mock surprise. "Me! Lie! Preposterous! I was there after all…"

His speech was cut off mid-way by the Seeker violently slamming her hands down on his chair's arm rests. "Bullshit Varric! I already know you were there and involved. The events in your story leave out certain details about what happened in Kirkwall. An while I have little doubt that your story would have turned out the way you portrayed it to, that's only if my new information isn't true!" The Seeker pushed off the chair to retrieve a pouch of some sort from one of the guards before she continued. "You have told me almost the whole story. Told me almost everything about the Champion and almost everything about the Champion's companions."

"If that's the case then what have I missed? Please do enlighten me Seeker." Varric interrupted with an amused grin on his face. That grin disappeared almost as quickly when Varric saw the look on the woman's face. He had been expecting the woman to go off on another angry rant. But she looked like the cat that caught the canary. Varric's eyes narrowed his face a mask of grim seriousness as he tried to determine what the Seeker had found out. The Seeker meanwhile had started up her monologue once more as she circled around Varric's chair.

"Your story has mentioned the Champion and that serves most of my purpose. However, right now I'm more interested in the Champion's companions." Varric attempted to shift the verbal battleground back into his favor as he asked with a tone of sarcasm "And what would you like to know about me then? Surely you must be asking about me as I don't know all that much about them." The Seeker paused looking at Varric briefly before smiling, giving Varric some brief glimmer of hope….."No Varric I already know more than enough about you. Or should I call you 'The Marksman' like people do in the stories?"….only to snatch said hope away.

Varric wasn't deterred however, as he tried once again to throw the Seeker off her game. "Well I don't know anything else that I can tell you. I didn't know anyone aside from the Champion all that well." The Seeker just smiled as she started circling Varric once more. "Oh I already know more than enough about them even though you're lying. Isabella 'The Pirate', Anders 'The Warden', Aveline 'The Guardswoman', 'The Champion's Sibling', Fenris 'The Runaway Slave', and Merrill 'The Dalish Pariah'." The Seeker stopped abruptly in front of Varric once more, fixing him with a knowing stare. By now Varric had broken into a nervous sweat though you couldn't see it.

"If that's the case then why would need me to tell you about them Seeker? It would seem that you already know enough about everyone." The Seeker just gave Varric a glare that showed how tired she was of his dancing around the obvious answer and so decided to put an end to their verbal 'battle' as it were.

"You and I both know that the Champion had one more companion. One who was a very skilled fighter. An individual who used some of the most unusual and bizarre weapons anyone has ever seen. And from some of the stories I've heard, used them with enough skill to take on three Revenants single handedly among other things." Varric just looked at the Seeker blankly before he burst out laughing. After Varric had managed to catch his breath and was wiping the tears from his eyes did he respond to the Seeker.

"Oh Seeker, your very funny but you do realize that people tell this story and add things as they please? Did you not think that it may also have just been a mage or even a spell? You seem so sure of yourself but the tale changes with every different telling. What makes you think there was another member among the Champion's Companions?" The Seeker just gave Varric a blank stare before tossing the pouch she had retrieved earlier into Varric's lap. Varric picked up the pouch, giving the Seeker a puzzled look. The woman's only response was a sharp shake of her head, motioning for him to open it.

Shrugging to himself Varric did so looking inside. Due to the little light in the room however, Varric wasn't able to make out the object inside. Reaching into the pouch with an amused grin, he looked at the Seeker when he felt a cloth wrapped object. As he started to pull the item out he asked "You honestly think there's truth in the tales that you've heard today based on a piece of cloth…" Varric had planned on saying more but he found himself unable to speak. The reason being that he had just taken a look at the cloth and the item which it was wrapped in it.

Before he could open his mouth to speak the Seeker had taken the objects in question, letting the cloth fall to the wood floor and holding the other in her hand. "Yes Varric, I do believe that there's truth in these tales I've heard today, after all I managed to acquire one of those strange weapons." The Seeker said to Varric before she promptly threw said weapon at the cloth on the floor piercing it with a dull wooden thunk.

Varric just stared at the cloth and the weapon, his face on the verge of turning white as snow from the shock. 'How did she find out? I made sure there was no trace of him left anywhere aside from rumors. It's just not possible!' He thought to himself. The dwarf was brought out of his shock by the Seeker's next statement which made him feel like he'd just been stabbed in the gut. For as he just continued to stare at the cloth and the weapon the Seeker just looked at him and said one thing.

"I want you to tell me the whole story without any missing details this time Varric. I want you tell me about the Champion's final companion." Varric just looked up at the Seeker before he let out a prolonged sigh as he attempted to reacquire some measure of his former composure. Leaning back in his chair to make himself comfortable Varric told the Seeker that the true story, the whole story as she wanted it was a rather long story. The Seeker just smirked at him, replying that so long as he was stuck here with her that she had nothing but time. Varric sighed as his gaze fell back to the items on the floor. He stared for a time at them as if trying to remember details that were hazy at best. The Seeker understood the truth of that far off look in Varric's eyes. He was remembering a time filled with glorious adventures, of times spent with the greatest of friends. While she did have technically need the information the dwarf possessed she gave him a few minutes to reminisce over treasured memories. Just as she was about to order him to tell her what she wanted however, the dwarf startled her by asking her if she really wanted to know the true story.

The Seeker hadn't expected such a statement to come from Varric, especially in such a bone chilling solemn tone. It did make her pause however, making her wonder, if given Varric's tone did she really want to hear the true story. Shaking off her doubts she scoughed at Varric. "I need to know what happened Varric." Varric just nodded as he turned his gaze back to the cloth and the weapon on the ground. After almost a minute of silence Varric finally spoke. "Alright then Seeker. I'll tell you the whole story, but don't say I didn't warn you. It's not going to be a pretty story all the time. There are times that it will be very dark." He paused after that to stare at the cloth on the floor with the orange spiral on the floor that the single kunai had pierced. "This is the true story about what happened in Kirkwall. The story with the details about Naruto Uzumaki, or as we grew to call him 'The Chained Fox'."

Varric looked up to see that the Seeker had a small grin on her face and a raised questioning eye brow. Varric immiediately understanding that this was due to his comment about Naruto's name was ever quick to respond with his razor sharp wit. "What?"…..Alright so razor sharp wit (at this moment) perhaps might have been a slight stretch. The Seeker just looked at Varric and asked "Am I to presume then that there is more to the name 'The Chained Fox' than shear ridiculousness?" Varric just chuckled to himself, after all it wasn't the first time someone had mistaken a warning as humor.

"Oh yes Seeker. There is far more meaning in that name than one would presume, and absolutely none it has to do with humor. At any rate unless you have any further questions, then perhaps you might allow me to get on with the story." The amusement on the woman's face disappeared faster than gold coins offered to a beggar. 'Looks like its back to business then' the dwarf thought to himself with a small sigh. Looking up at the Seeker Varric decided to impart one last piece of information before starting his story. "I feel that I should tell you one thing before I begin Seeker." The woman looked at him waiting. "You should understand that Naruto isn't like the rest of us and with good reason too. You see, Naruto didn't come from this world. He actually came from a world that if I had to guess I would say was beyond the fade."

The Seeker had a look on her face as if the Maker himself had just popped out of a box and slapped her. Before she could begin to voice any (coherent) questions, Varric quited her by promising everything would be explained in due time. "Well then I suppose I should start from the beginning, when we first met Naruto."

**I'll try and update soon but it won't be for a couple weeks as I do have other duties to perform in my life outside of this site. Plus I really want to make the next chapter way longer.**


	2. Beginning of a Legend

**Alright I don't Naruto or Dragon Age 2.**

**That aside folks sorry about any constant updates you have recieved or may receive about this chapter in the near future. I'm still trying to figure out what the hell I'm doing when it comes to uploading the story. I think I've got it figured out now but I could be wrong. So please, please just bear with me as this is my first time doing this.**

**On to the reviews. I hope I continue to get more from everyone who reads this as it makes me feel my work is appreciated. It also makes me write faster in addition to getting suggestions or ideas I might use from readers.**

**Reviews like these for example**

**metallurker: Excellent start in a crossover that I feel should have more stories. Keep it  
up.**

**Somedude (Guest): So far so good, one or two errors but those are minor.  
I so glad that Naruto is with Merrill if the character guide is to be gone by.  
Looking forward to the next update.**

**BlazaWolf: Ooooo, this should be good. I think I played the game about 3 or 4 times so I  
can't wait to read what's the same and what's different.**

**Crow:This seems interesting, 'The Chained Fox' makes it sound like he's**  
**imprisoned somehow but with that ending I'm inclined to think it has something**  
**to do with his abilities. ****Which basically means we'll be seeing him use the Shroud at somepoint or maybe**  
**in this story he's gained all of Kyuubis powers and has infact become the fox? ****In either case It's exceptional for a first story, so I hope to see more of it**  
**soon.**

**Those are just a few examples and in answer to to Crow's question...You don't think I'm just gonna up and tell you flat out do you?**

**I will say this however, I'm gonna try and set up some polls correctly I hope about whether or not you readers think I should give Naruto another element chosen from out of fire, water, earth, or lightening.**

**It will last for a week so if the poll isn't set up then send in your reviews stating which ONE I should give him if any.**

**Finally I'm still looking for that beta reader so if your interested send me a message. Now onto the story!**

Chapter 2 Beginning of a Legend

It had been about three weeks since Merrill started living in the elvish alienage. Truth be told while it was cramped and the conditions were abysmal she didn't mind. After all it was better than being ostracized by the rest of her clan. She remembered the looks the other Dalish gave her as she was leaving. Only a blind man wouldn't have seen the joy and relief in their eyes at seeing her leaving. 'Though I suppose a blind man wouldn't really see much of anything.' The young elf thought to herself as she finished cleaning up the remnants of her breakfast. Merrill tried not to let the memories of her departure from the clan upset her at least visibly. That currently wasn't working out so well for her at the moment though.

She had hoped that living among the humans she might be able to make some friends. Sure she knew a few people already but she wouldn't consider them all friends. Fenris she had thought they might have been good friends based on their shared heritage. Then everyone learned about his unwanted connection to the magisters of the Tevinter Imperium, and his hatred of mages in particular blood mages. It wasn't hard to figure out that he would only tolerate her, Hawke, and Anders just barely…..or that he wouldn't hesitate to cut any of them down if he felt they would turn on him. Then there was Anders, she thought that they might get along well with each other. As it turned out despite the fact that they were both mages he was almost as bad as Fenris even if they were both in similar situations. The Templars wouldn't hesitate to kill either one of them if they were discovered. Her for practicing blood magic, and Anders for being possessed by Justice a spirit from the fade. Anders viewed his own situation with Justice as being completely ok, but when it came to blood magic he wouldn't hesitate to portray her as an evil abomination just waiting to strike.

Carver who was Hawke's younger brother was only slightly better than Fenris. He might not openly like her for being a mage, but he also didn't verbally attack her on a constant basis like Fenris did. The only reason he didn't out right shun her, not to mention turn her over to the Templars was because his own brother was also an apostate. Aveline and Hawke were both somewhat neutral toward her. They wouldn't hesitate to defend her from physical harm or accusations however, when it came to Merrill's own decisions or beliefs regarding spirits or the use of magic they refused to support her on them. Aveline's reason for doing so was something Merrill could and had accepted after spending some time with the guardswoman. The woman was a soldier not a mage and as a result only knew and understood magic from what she was told about it. In truth it basically meant that abominations, demons, blood mages, blood magic, or any magic being used to kill you was bad. Hawke on the other hand hated blood magic itself. It was blood magic after all that had caused mages to inadvertently create the darkspawn, in addition to creating the fear people had of mages. In his mind blood magic was the very reason he was forced to live in hiding as an apostate, that or live his life like a prisoner in the circle.

As Merrill continued with her thoughts she went back to her room to do the next item on her list for the day. Said task being to continue her attempts at repairing the damaged Eluvian Mirror. It was important to her as she truly felt her efforts would benefit her people. She would spend about two or three hours doing this almost every day after breakfast before Varric came to visit her sometimes with Isabella for a few hours if Hawke didn't need their help with something. By now Merrill was well into her work. She found it odd that magic was so easy for her to do. For Hawke and Anders she had noticed while fighting alongside them that they fought almost unnaturally. They had an almost empty look in their eyes of pure concentration to prevent their spells from backfiring on them.

Merrill on the other hand didn't have that sort of concentration. She just let her magic flow through her, treating it like it was an extension of herself or even just another appendage for her. It was the result of this that she could focus on her own thoughts no matter how difficult the magical task she was performing. She also found that she could monitor the world around her and react more quickly than her friends…..

It was at this point that those negative feelings she had repressed for so long became too much for her to handle as she began to sob. Unable to support herself she ended up leaning against the Eluvian tears falling from her face. Varric would be there soon and would make her forget about the pain she was feeling. He would probably be there any minute and it wouldn't do any good to have him see her as she was in tears. Her emotions under control once more she began to pull herself up only to receive a minor cut on her finger which she didn't notice.

Or rather it wasn't so much that she didn't notice, but that she had more important things to worry about at the time. For as Merrill had been crying she had also started sobbing her feelings out loud and incoherently. Normally this wouldn't have been an overly big deal, however, certain events and items were involved that were anything but normal. First there was the mixture of her blood and tears on the Eluvian. She remembered some of the old Dalish stories and there was one or two she remembered that told of Elvish tears or blood being used for some unknown spell of some kind unrelated to blood magic. Then there was the Eluvian, the broken Eluvian that they had fallen on.

Now normally this wouldn't give any cause to be concerned over, or at least that would have been the case if it weren't for the last two things that had happened. For when Merrill had been sobbing she had also been speaking incoherently, which again was not normally dangerous. What did make this dangerous however, was the fact that while this was happening Merrill had continued to channel her mana as if this was part of a spell! The fact that this kept going on even after she shed some of her blood to lead into blood magic only made things worse.

Merrill had a great deal of experience and could easily prevent the oncoming calamity. All she had to do was remain calm and continue channeling her mana as she was. All she needed to do was cast a simple spell that would cause her several hours of work to disappear. Not that it didn't upset her, but as far she was concerned she'd prefer a few hours' work ruined than whatever random result she might get from her mistake. All she needed to do was keep calm and continue channeling her mana. Varric's call of "Daisy are you in here?" from her sitting room however, caused the opposite to happen. She panicked and stopped channeling.

Varric wasn't stupid, far from it in fact. He was willing to admit that there were things he didn't know or understand if he were asked something on a subject that wasn't his strong suit. Magic happened to be one such area of expertise that was beyond him. Unlike other subjects which would require a efforts border lining on torture before he would admit his lack of knowledge in however, magic was one he would willing admit to. He wasn't ashamed about it, due to the fact he was a Dwarf he like all dwarves was incapable of using magic. Thus the reason why he didn't feel the need to actively encourage others that he was an expert on the subject. Varric didn't need to be an expert on the workings of magic however, to know that the blazing white light coming from Merrill's room down the hall or her cry of surprise and pain meant something was wrong.

Varric was instantly rushing toward Merrill's room, praying everything was alright. He understood how stupid his decision was, considering he had no idea what he was about to run into. But he didn't have much of a choice either. Sure he might have been better off coming back with Hawke or Anders but that could make things worse. It would take too long to get Anders and then back to the alienage to help Daisy. As for Hawke while he was much closer (provided he was still at home), lacked the experience and expertise that Anders had in regards to magic, not to mention his lacking skill in the school of healing magic.

'Not to mention how much time Daisy may or may not have.' The concerned dwarf thought to himself. It was at times like this that he praised the Maker for his natural resistance to magic. While he and every other dwarf might not be able to use magic because of their resistance to it, that didn't mean they were immune to its effects. All it meant was that weak magic did either very little or nothing at all to a dwarf. As more effort was put into a spell or if stronger spells were used the chances of a dwarf getting out unscathed became smaller and smaller. He just hoped things wouldn't come down to needing Anders to patch him and Daisy up. Because his natural resistance to magic was just that, a natural resistance to magic of all kinds, even healing which needless to say pissed Anders who specialized in healing off to no end.

Varric had reached Merrill's bedroom door and hoped that she wasn't standing directly between it and the mirror. The reason being due to how bright the light coming from her room was. The minute he opened the door he'd have to close or cover his eyes or risk being blinded which meant he was literally going to be shooting blind from memory. Just as Varric kicked the door open the wall of Merrill's bedroom about eight feet to his right blew outward in a cloud of debris and dust filling both the hall and the room.

Varric entered cautiously now that whatever had happened with that light seemed to be over. Still better to be safe than dead as he kept his finger on Bianca's trigger. It took a whole minute for the dust cloud to dissipate, though to Varric it felt more like ten minutes of feeling like a sitting duck for a potential demon or ancestors knows what. He was glad to find nothing waiting to rip his throat out.

The sound of movement had the dwarf launch himself into a sudden forward dive roll. Exiting from his somersault Varric spun around and was barely able to prevent himself from firing Bianca out of reflex. The sound as it happened was Merrill shifting causing some debris to fall on the floor.

Merrill from first glance looked like she was ok aside from some cuts and bruises here and there. "You ok Daisy?" Varric asked her as he walked over to wipe the blood and dust from her face. Something felt off to the dwarf as she responded with a groan followed up with a "I feel like I drank too much with Isabella…again." The later response getting a chuckle from Varric. It was only after he had cleaned the dust from her face that he discovered what seemed off about her.

"Varric? Whats wrong?" Varric was brought out of his shock by the sound of Merrill's voice. "Daisy I'm so sorry…" Merrill just looked at her dwarven friend as she tried to determine what he looked so upset about. As she carefully started to stand up her gaze was captured by the Eluvian. Before her little magical mishap had occurred the Dalish artifact had been in pretty bad condition. Originally it had consisted of a narrow rounded rectangular shaped frame, with a number of mirror fragments of different shapes and sizes connected to the wooden back board. The wooden back board however, could be seen through the large number of gaps in between the broken mirror fragments and its enchantments were gone for the most part.

Now however, the gaps between the mirror fragments had become significantly smaller. In fact the sections where the gaps had gone missing the mirror fragments had fused together as a whole piece. Merrill would have started laughing and dancing if it weren't for the fact that her head felt like someone was beating a drum in it. She was still able to turn to Varric with a grand smile on her face. "It's almost complete Varric." Merrill didn't even waiting for the dwarf to respond before she hobbeled over to the mirror she had devoted herself to fix for her people. She used a nearby rag to wipe some dust off the glass, turning her head to focus on Varric. "I didn't mean to cause such a mess. I made a mistake and was trying to fix it when you got here. You called out and I lost my focus, but everything's turned out perfectly. Well except for maybe the wall." The young Dalish mage said to her obviously concerned friend. She expected Varric to scold her for putting herself in such great danger or raise some sort of fuss about her. To her amazement, the dwarf didn't say anything remotely along those lines.

Varric just looked at her, his eyes full of sorrow like something terrible had happened. "Varric I'm sorry about what happened, but everything turned out just fine." The dwarf just looked at her with a pained expression. "No Daisy everythings not ok." His voice quiet and tone rather serious. Steeling himself for what was to come and looked at the young woman he had grown rather fond of as it pained him to say his next words. "Daisy your face…..Your face is…" for the first time in his life, Varric couldn't find the words to speak.

Merrill didn't need him to say those extra words however, as time seemed to slow to a near standstill as she turned to look at her reflection. Battered and bruised as her face was, she could still see what Varric struggled to tell her. The burst of uncontrolled magic had not left her unscathed as she had thought. For a start her hair once a dark brown bordering on black had become black as the night sky and now reached to her shoulders in the back. In the front there was now thin bang which fell across her right eye though not affecting her vision and was pure scarlet in color. Her eyes which had been a dark meadow green, now held specks of amber in them. If it had just been those things Merrill wouldn't have been so upset as she started cry. It was the final change she noticed that had her collapsing to the ground as she lost consciousness, Varric catching her head before it could strike the ground. Her face no longer held the tree tattoo worn by the Dailish Keepers, and awarded to their successor. She had been stripped of the greatest achievement in her life and as a result she might never be able to join her clan again.

Varric had barely laid the young elf safely on the ground before he was sprinting out the door in search of Anders. If one had stopped to look (and many did) they probably would have seen how fast a dwarf could really run, and needless to say Varric was practically a blur. Nothing was going to stop him from helping Merrill now. Or at least you would think so until the dwarf rounded the corner colliding head long into Isabella sending them both to the ground.

"What the hell!? Varric? What's got you in such a hurry?" asked the former captain as she pulled herself to her feet. Varric cut off any further statements from the dark skinned woman demanding if she knew where Anders was. Isbella took quick notice of Varric's almost frenzied state and was only just able to get an explanation from Varric before he could take off. Isabella was able to see how serious the situation was. "Go down to his Ander's clinic in Dark Town. I'll go see if Hawke can do something in the meantime." She told the dwarf as she took off in search of Hawke.

With Isabella

As Isabella ran through the market district of Old Town in search of Hawke she could only hope that Merrill was alright. Varric hadn't told her all the details in order to save time. Time which could make all the difference to help Merrill. Her search for Hawke had gotten her few results in Old Town, aside from getting Carver to watch over Merrill. She was almost half way to High Town when she found Hawke, fortunately on his way back home. After explaining what she knew the two rushed back to Merrill's home…only to find something odd instead.

With Varric and Anders

Varric was rushing onward quickly as his short legs could carry him. The dwarf could only go so fast though if he wanted Anders to be in a reasonable condition to help Merrill. After what felt like hours to the panicked dwarf they had finally arrived in the alienage. Varric barely bothered to slow down as he rushed into Merrills apartment to find Isabella, Carver, and Hawke who looked like he had done what he could for the Dalish elf. Anders soon filed in behind Varric quickly moving to assess Merrill's condition, though he like the others before him was caught by surprise at Merrill's appearance however, he didn't allow that to distract him from the task at hand.

After Varric had finally managed to re-acquaint his lungs with the concept of 'oxygen is your friend' he managed to gasp out a brief "How is she?" Anders looked up from his examination quickly replying that he couldn't say anything just yet. Hawke on the other hand turned to Varric with a rather serious expression which generally meant bad news. "I found small traces of the most bizarre mana I've ever felt coming from her. If Anders or I had been here from the very beginning one of us might have been able to prevent it merging with her own mana….." Varric fixed Hawke with a stare which plainly screamed 'In English please' which caused Hawke to briefly pause as he made his explanation simpler for the dwarf to understand.

Meanwhile Anders had finished checking over Merrill who was just suffering from a mild concussion in addition to shock. "She'll be fine in a few hours so long as she gets a good night sleep. She will have a head ache afterwards though and should spend the day resting just to be safe." The blonde mage concluded for the rest of those gathered. "Though I am more worried about that foreign mana source developing separate from her own." Varric began looking from one mage to the other demanding an explanation right then and there.

Hawke was the one who provided it to him. "As I mentioned earlier, I found traces of a bizarre foreign mana source. As Anders just briefly summed up its gathering together and forming another reserve. In simpler terms I suppose you could think of Merrill's mana as a blue colored pool of water. While this foreign mana is gathering together to form a separate and different colored pool of water. As to how or if it will affect her Varric, I don't know as I've never seen this before. I'm not even sure Anders knows anything more than I do about this or even how to treat Merrill for any side effects if any." It was at that moment Hawke seemed to realize Anders was still in the room before he got a slightly sheepish look on his face and added "No offence Anders." The other mage just gave Hawke a dead pan stare. "No, no, please do continue to speak about my skills as if I'm not here. I'm quite sure I wouldn't mind knowing your true opinion about me" he said causing Isabella to grin and forcing Carver to cover up a laugh by coughing.

"Insults not withstanding however, Hawke is right in this instance. I don't know anything more about what's happening or going to happen to Merrill, than what he's just summarized for the rest of you."

"Then what about the other one? Do you think he might know anything about what happened?" everyone turned to look at Carver curious as to what he was talking about, Varric especially. "What other one Carver? We're the only ones here." Carver just raised a single eyebrow almost in disbelief at the dwarf's statement. "You mean to tell me that you didn't notice that blonde haired man buried in the rubble then?" said Carver as he just pointed behind him with his thumb.

Sure enough much to everyone's disbelief was the individual Carver was talking about. It was at this point everyone but Carver shared the thought 'How the hell did I miss that?'. Varric didn't feel as guilty about not noticing the man the first time he was here. After all he had been more concerned with Merrill's wellbeing at the time than anything else. Varric's eyes suddenly widened as realization hit him. Isabella ever so quick to notice his mind racing was quick to ask him what was wrong.

"We need to pack up Merrill's things and get everybody out now." The dwarf responded with a tone of dead seriousness. The rest of the group aside from Anders who was just beginning to look over the blonde haired man's condition seemed genuinely confused. It was Carver who decided to ask the question everyone was thinking.

"But we just got here. Why in Andraste's name would we need to pack everything up and go elsewhere?" it didn't come as a surprise to Varric when both Hawke and Anders seemed to arrive at the same conclusion, though it was Hawke who voiced the answer for them all.

"Templars…." Was all he said, but that one word seemed to spring everyone else into motion as they began to gather everything even remotely related to magic as fast as they could. They all understood the consequences of being caught right there and then if Templars showed up. They'd all be sent to prison in the best case scenario with the exception of Hawke, Merrill and Anders. The first two would probably be forced into the circle of mages, while Anders would in all odds probably be made Tranquill. That is if they all weren't executed for the large amounts of blood magic that could be felt. All the residual mana from the accident could be felt by even the most inexperienced of mages should the Templars involve them in any investigation that might occur, and while Varric didn't remember the event being very loud, his own perspective wasn't reliable as he had blocked out everything else but helping Merrill.

It took them only five minutes to do so, as Merrill had very little in terms of magic associated belongings aside from her staff, the Eluvian, and her Dalish attire which they gathered in under a minute. The other four minutes were spent removing anything associated with the Dalish since Merrill was the only Dalish elf that was seen on a regular basis within the city walls. It was a well-known fact that the Dalish were the only people who were able to openly practice magic aside from the mages in the Tevinter Imperium, free of influence from the chantry and their Templars. Add in the fact that the investigation would begin at the origin of the magic, which happened to be in the elvish alienage….. While the Templars might not be all that bright but even a child could make the assumption that the culprit would be an elf. The other little details would fall into place given enough time.

A small smirk formed on Varric's face. He knew of a few people who could make sure those little details wouldn't fall into place for a very long time if they did at all. It might involve greasing a few palms and doing a couple of favors for the right people, but that was something Varric knew how to do very well. It was then that Isabella returned from delivering Merrill's clothing and other light belongings to Varric's room at the Hanged Man. "We have a problem Varric." Everyone spun around waiting for the worst and yet still hoping for the best. "Templars are heading this way. I just saw a boat with their colors heading out from the Stockade!" Varric narrowed his eyes. 'Something's not right here. Whatever Merrill did had to have alerted the mages, otherwise there'd be no reason for them to hoist their colors onto a ship heading for the main land.'

"Hawke! Anders! Do what you can to make the story here disappear." At this Hawke burst into a big shit eating grin. He was very well versed in making things disappear back when he and his brother were working for Athenril and her smugglers. "Carver, you and Isabella are gonna carry that mirror to my place at the hanged man and then get back here on the double." Carver was about to object when Isabella quieted his protests with an elbow in the ribs.

Varric turned back to Hawke and Anders. The later of the two getting ready to carry Merrill off. Before the dwarf could object Anders interrupted "I'm good at fixing people and ending them. I'd just get in Hawkes way". Varric just nodded "Alright then take her to the Hanged man and watch over her with Isabella, but send Carver back here. We're gonna need him to lug this guy back for answers." Anders raised an eyebrow but didn't make any objections as he left. They ended up cutting thing rather close but in the end pulled everything by the skin of their teeth.

The Hanged Man one week later…..

Merrill was reaching her breaking point. She had been cooped up in the Hanged Man for the past week days unable to leave because of the new Templar patrols. It seemed that her little accident had attracted the attention of some circle mages. Knight Commander Meredith had responded by having patrols looking for the source. Varric had told her when she woke up, that she wouldn't be able to stay in the alienage until things cooled down. Hawke was taking big enough risks at the moment by continuing to collect the funds for the deep roads expedition, the dwarf had said. He also assured her that he'd spoken to a few 'associates' of his who would make sure the patrols stopped in the next week or so, but until then she had to be patient. That had been six days ago…..

She sighed, 'well at least I'm not alone in my predicament' she thought to herself as she watched Anders checking the unconscious blonde once again. She thought back to the rather bizarre not to mention amazing things everyone had learned about him four days ago.

_Flashback_

_"Well Blondie what's the story with our sleeping tattooed friend here? Is he gonna live?" Merrill winced slightly when Varric said the word tattoo. The dwarf mentally slapped himself having forgotten about what she had lost because of the accident. Varric quickly focused his attention back to Anders. The blonde ponytail sporting mage had called both Isabella and him here for something important but refused to go into any more details until Isabella had retrieved Varric._

_Anders had a small smile on his face "Well….." he said taking a pause causing Varric to glare at him. 'You smug little bastard, now your just trying to piss me off aren't you?' the dwarf thought. Isabella currently suffering from a rather significant hang over for her which didn't happen often needless to say, finally snapped. "Damn it Anders just spit it out already or I swear by Andrastes knickers I'll disembowel you with a rusty spoon!" Anders took a couple steps away from the hung over woman in fear…..much to the amusement of a certain dwarf._

_"Well our mystery man will survive, though he won't be waking up for a few days. That's not the reason I called you here however" This caught Varric's attention immediately. How could it not? After all the dwarf was now being forced to restrain a blood thirsty Isabella who had oddly enough managed to pull a spoon from out of nowhere and had begun advancing on Anders. "Better explain fast Blondie I can't hold her much longer." Varric managed to grunt out. The mage just took that as an opportunity to move to the table next to the sleeping stranger…and farther away from Isabella._

_"The reason I called you here is because of the things I found on our guest here. Since Isabella is so well traveled I thought she might be able to give us a little insight about who he might be." At this Isabella went from blood thirsty to downright motionless. Varric immediately saw where this was going as the most evil expression ten times worse than the worst thing anyone could imagine began to form on Isabella's face. "Varric…..Let me go….." the dark skinned woman said in the sweetest tone that the dwarf knew promised nothing pleasant for the recipient. A coward the dwarf was not, but years of experience told the dwarf this was the smart thing to do and so he listened._

_Isabella slowly began advancing, shoulders slumped forward head down so that only her bone chilling smile could be seen. "First you wake me up while I'm hung over." Anders had gone pale and started sweating. "Then you won't tell me why until I get Varric, who just happened to be out in the very noisy and very bright light of High Town, while I'm hung over." Anders hands started to come up in front of him defensively as he kept backing away. "And now you tell me that you needed Varric here so you could let him know that you wanted me to take a look at the man's things." Anders suddenly found that he had nowhere left to run as his back suddenly met a wall. He swallowed nervously as he found himself staring into the eyes of Isabella which promised nothing but the most unimaginable suffering possible. "Give me one very, very good reason why I shouldn't just end your miserable existence in the most entertaining fashion right now."_

_By now Anders face had become white as snow as he literally squeaked out "KNIVES! HIS KNIVES!"._

_Isabella just sighed before turning and walking to the table with the man's belongings. Leaving Anders to slump to the floor as he struggled to get his heart beating once more. Varric knew the man had slipped through death's fingers with his comment. Every woman was different as they always had one or two things that they couldn't resist. For most it was expensive jewelry, exotic fabrics, make up, others were all for beautiful flowers, fine wines, or the ever elusive perfect gentleman. For Isabella it was all about ships and knives._

_Isabella meanwhile had taken a look at the items the unconscious man had on him. They had come in two varieties, the first shaped like a four pointed star she assumed for throwing though how that could be done she couldn't understand. The second were large and clunky in her own opinion. Strong and heavy for piercing armor she assumed, designed more for close combat but also light enough that they could be thrown though not very far, as she proved by embedding one into the wall beside Anders head._

_"Well Isabella?" the woman turned to regard Varric. Her only response was "I have no idea."_

_Flash back end_

The young elf watched as Anders finished his examination with a rather resigned look on his face before leaving to go find something to eat. They'd been making sure their mystery guest or 'Whiskers" as Varric had taken to calling him, was eating and drinking but still Anders insisted that if he hadn't woken up by yesterday which he hadn't, than he was probably beyond any help from anyone.

She moved her chair over to the cot where the man was laying in only his undergarments covered by a blanket up to his waist. Her eyes glanced over him starting with his face. His sun blonde hair was wild and in untamed spikes. Two of these spikes fell across the sides of his face forming bangs while the rest of his hair was done up in an odd braid in the back. It formed a pony tail in the back down to the middle of his back, which was also spike like in appearance. His face put his age at early twenties just like her. Then there were the six black whiskers on his face. She smiled as she remembered how baffeled Anders had been when the so called make up wouldn't come off his face.

From there she continued her staring, ignoring his well-conditioned and muscled body focusing on his tattoos. She distantly remembered Fenris and Carver had pointed out the man was probably a close range fighter favoring a style of rapid brutal strikes with those knives of his while connecting his chains to the rings in the weapons handles so he wouldn't lose them. She had been more focused on the man's tattoos then too.

_Flash back_

_"So this is the man you wanted me to see Hawke?" Fenris grunted as he looked him over. Anders had called them all with the exception of Isabella the day after his visit with her. Fenris had come only because his help was asked for otherwise he wouldn't have been there because of Anders and Merrill. After a few minutes Fenris then went over to the table with the three pouches containing the mans belongings dumping them on the table. Anders had only opened two of them those being the one that had been strapped to the man's left leg, and the one which had been belted to the back of his waist. Those had contained some metal wire, the star shaped knives, some small white paper squares, some high quality rope, the larger thick diamond shaped knives, and some yellow rectangular paper sheets with bizarre symbols or writing on them. Aside from that the man's clothing which had been torn and shredded beyond repair had contained two head bands and a scroll with the same writing in it. The man had been wearing one of the head bands which consisted of a metal plate on blue fabric, the other also had a metal plate but black fabric. Both the metal plates on the head bands had the same symbol which looked like a leaf of some sort engraved on them, though the black one had a line scratched through it._

_Fenris finished looking through the contents of the first two pouches taking interest in the knives, head bands, and writing. "Well I can't say much about this writing as I've never seen it before. These head bands and knives however, do tell me something about him though." Varric raised an eyebrow as he leaned against a wall in the small room, his arms crossed before him. It was Hawke however, who asked his unspoken question though. "Well what about him then?" the white haired elf turned and picked up one of the larger knives, rolling it in his hands before answering. "The head bands share the same symbol however, only the one he was wearing belongs to him. The other one perhaps someone close to him. Maybe a fallen comrade perhaps?" Fenris paused a moment as if in thought before continuing. "The knives are more interesting as in all my travelling I've never seen anything like it. It's almost as if it were a multipurpose tool rather than a weapon. It's made for slashing but mainly stabbing, as it's size would help make larger wounds which only a mage would be able to deal with." The last bit was said in a somewhat neutral tone._

_Fenris wasn't sure if these knives were supposed to tire a mage out from constantly healing wounds on their allies. It seemed that way to him however, and if that was the case than he liked this mystery man a little bit more already. Fenris proceeded to open the third pouch which was rather large. Confusion and a hint of disgust became apparent upon the elf's face as he dumped the contents of the bag onto the floor. From out of the bag fell a number of different chains of varying length, shape, and appearance in addition to a pair of strange gauntlets that looked almost as if they were made out chains. The gauntlets reached to about the mid-forearm of the mystery man and everything above the wrist was wrapped in chains for the right gauntlet. At about the wrist there seemed to be a number of spike shaped cones that looked like they were attached to the chains above it._

_The left gauntlet wasn't wrapped up in chains like the right. Instead the chains were clipped together sideways while the ends near the wrist hung loosely with jagged barbed hooks at their ends. Fenris just looked at the chains reminded of his time when he was a slave. "I can't even begin to explain those" was all he said as the rest of the group just stared._

_Anders broke the awkward silence by asking Fenris about the man's tattoos. Fenris raised an eyebrow "I don't know what you expect me to tell you from a few lines on his face." He said causing Anders to facepalm._

_"Not those tattoos. These ones" the mage said as he yanked the blanket down to the man's waist. IN the process revealing an odd series of lines, circles, and other such symbols. This however, caught Merrill's interest as she tuned everything else out, for in addition to the complex design there was a second tattoo. Located on his right shoulder was a tattoo of some nine tailed creature bound in chains. These chains connected to another tattoo, one she was very familiar with since she had once had it on her face…_

_Flash back end_

The sound of groaning snapped Merrill back to reality. She looked at the blondes face as his eyes blinked slowly adjusting to their surroundings before suddenly focusing on her. She felt almost mesmerized by the sky blue orbs, she'd never seen eyes of that color before anywhere. "Who are you?" her voice almost a whisper. It was at this point Anders accompanied by Varric walked into the room, the former being stunned at this turn of events. The three of them were all able to hear the stranger clearly however, as he responded. "Uzumaki Naruto"


	3. Chapter 3 The Deep Roads

**Alright and we are back with the 3rd chapter of 'The Chained Fox' and before we begin I have a few announcements I need to make.**

**I know that a lot of my followers here have only chosen to follow/favorite the story/author. I really have no problems with this. In fact I really want this to happen as I want this particular cross over story to have the highest number of followers/favorites in this category. This brings us to the other issue as I also want this story to have the most reviews out of any of the Dragon Age Naruto cross overs. I can't do this without the help of my readers though, as I need you guys to write reviews to the chapters I post. So please, please, write reviews to every chapter I post as it helps me to reach this goal.****I know that there hasn't been much in terms of romance yet (there will be I promise) but I've posted another poll asking if you guys think I should add the smuggler elf Athenril into the pairing (depending on what you guys think I might do it as I have quite a few ideas of how to make the story even more interesting with her involved).****Speaking of polls I've noticed that there have only been 5 votes made on the poll I posted asking which element I should give Naruto in addition to his wind affinity. While I understand that a few people didn't know if the poll was set up yet because of issues I had posting the second chapter. So for those of you who didn't know that poll is up and I will keep it up for another week maybe two, the same will go for the Athenril poll.****I have also set up another poll asking whether you guys think I should write another Naruto and Dragon Age cross over with Naruto and Morrigan. ****Last but not least I'm going to hold a contest to decide the cover image for this story. Provide me with an image for this story and if it's appropriate I'll use it and mention your name in addition to providing the winner with a bonus award for their ears only. The rules are simple provide me with the link to an image you believe should be the cover image for this story. So long as it's not something that is or borderline's X-rated material or has X-rated material on the site it's from I will consider it for the story cover image. I put this no X-rated material rule in for two reasons. One I don't want to end up getting kicked off the site along with other users for receiving links to sites with X-rated material which depending on where it's posted anyone could have access to. Two I update and post my stories from a public computer at my university campus for right now, so you can clearly see that it would be rather difficult for me to provide my avid readers with updates to their stories from behind bars.**

**And now onto the story where I wish I owned Naruto and Dragon Age but don't and am still looking for a beta reader.**

Chapter 3 The Deep Roads

"Right then, if we succeed in this expedition we'll not only be rich but we'll make history….." Naruto just tuned Bartrand out. He really wasn't interested in this speech as becoming famous or wealthy didn't mean anything to him, not here at least. The only reason he was actually even going was because Hawke and Varric were taking her out of the city so she wouldn't go crazy. Though it would also help prevent the Templars from finding her should she come onto their radar. And he got to go along as an extra pack mule. 'How the hell did this happen to me?' Naruto thought.

_Flash back one week ago_

_Naruto sat there on the cot in the Hanged Man which was some sort of bar or an inn of some sort. At least that's what he gathered from the smell. His time with Jiraya had him spend a fair bit of time in some pretty low class drinking establishments in order to avoid Akatski. Right now however, he was more interested in the group of individuals who were debating what the hell to do with him. They were a rather diverse group interestingly enough. At first when they had all been gathered bleary eyed and dazed as he was he'd thought he was dealing with seven adults and a child. It wasn't until after his vision had come back into focus once more that he noticed his mistake. He was dealing with eight adults as the child was in fact a midget._

_As they debated over what to do with him, he gave them a once over while appearing to be doing something else, rather difficult given the circumstances but not impossible. He almost lost the battle to remain unnoticed during the groups argument when he gave Isabella as he later learned a once over. Now it was well known that Naruto was the dead last when it came to noticing the attempts of the female populace to seduce him into a marriage through the use of dress and sex appeal. Admittedly this wasn't entirely his fault as he had been a rather late bloomer into the dating scene. A lot of teachers had forced him out of certain classes back in the academy, which had resulted in Tsunade allowing Shizune and Anko to tort….. errr teach him about what he'd missed and in Anko's case forever, scar him with a film she'd said was called "The miracle of childbirth". She'd called it educational; he'd ended up learning that some images just can't be forgotten or escaped from even in your sleep. Needless to say these were the images he used to prevent that ever so noticeable nose bleed from occurring, when he saw how little she was wearing._

_Of the members of the group however, he paid particular attention to the two rather thin individuals, and the midget. The thin white haired male had thin pointed ears and was covered in several white tattoos which felt almost like chakra, but it was different from chakra in a way that he just couldn't describe or understand. The man himself was also rather strong if the massive broad sword on his back was anything to go by. 'It's like Zabuza and that horse killer of his all over again' thought the blonde shinobi as he continued onto his female counter part._

_The woman was virtually the opposite of her male counterpart. Where he'd been rough and broody looking, she was vibrant and cheerful. At least that was the appearance she was portraying. Naruto understood she was upset over something, but what it was he couldn't say. She reminded him of himself back as a kid being judged and mistreated for something he had no knowledge or say in the matter. With the exception of her red bang she looked as though she'd be capable of just vanishing in the forest, given her choice in clothing. It looked like it had been pieced together from bits of leaves and plants, unique to say the least. 'Then again who am I to judge' he thought as he remembered his old orange jumpsuit amazed it hadn't gotten him killed. He failed to notice the woman's face take on a slightly confused expression as she briefly glanced in his direction, before returning to the group's discussion._

_As Naruto brought his focus to the midget he came to the realization that he wasn't the only one playing this game of silent observation. Varric had picked up on what Naruto was doing when he noticed Merrill's expression change ever so slightly. 'He knows what he's doing, I'll give him that much' the dwarf thought to himself. The man was good and that worried Varric in more ways than one. If it hadn't been for Merrill's reaction he wouldn't have noticed what their guest was doing. Yet this was the sort of thing he was supposed to notice but he hadn't and Merrill did. 'Or did she?' Varric thought, there was just too much crazy shit happening right now for his liking. In any case Varric decided it was time to end the charade._

_"I hate to interrupt your observing of us there Whiskers, but I have to ask. Why would you tattoo whiskers on your face?" the dwarf asked the blonde man, while attracting the attention of the others. The reaction the dwarf got from the stranger was rather amusing considering he'd never seen someone's eye twitch like that before._

_Naruto knew the midget was trying to throw him off balance with his comment. Truthfully he'd only taken a stab at his pride, and mature as Naruto had become over the years he wasn't about to let it slide. "I hate to burst your bubble but these are birth marks midget" he said with a slight smirk though he was slightly disappointed when he only caused the dwarf to raise an eyebrow. "He does make an accurate observation I will admit" Naruto and Varric both turned to regard Fenris. "And what is that supposed to mean elf?" Fenris just looked at Varric, a rare smile on his face. "Well I believe that he's quite right in mistaking you for a midget. You must admit with your lack of a beard anyone could mistake you for being a midget instead of being a dwarf" it was a rare moment and Fenris would treasure it for as long as he lived, as he watched the dwarf always known for his razor sharp wit, unable to come up with a response._

_Flash back end_

Long story short the group (after explaining what an elf and a dwarf were) had decided that since Merrill had caused Naruto's arrival from where ever he came from, as they'd never heard of the elemental nations before, she was responsible for him until they could find a way to send him back Konoha. At least that was what they wanted him to believe but everyone knew better. Naruto had the feeling that whatever, had caused him to arrive in Kirkwall, Merrill was wrapped up in it. So it made sense that it may have had unknown consequences or side effects on the elf. In other words while she was keeping an eye on him everyone would be watching them. Naruto was interrupted from his contemplation by the sound of the Hawke brothers arguing. 'Well, guess it's time to go play peace keeper' the blonde sage thought.

"I'm going with you on this expedition!" Carver shouted at his brother Mason.

"No you're not and that's final!" came Mason's response.

It went on back and forth, each side providing arguments for why they would or wouldn't be going. Occasionally an older woman who Naruto assumed was their mother would jump in. Finally Naruto couldn't take it anymore. Putting his fingers in his mouth he whistled very loudly right next to the fighting brothers catching their attention. "Now that I've gotten your attention can I just ask why you don't want Carver to go?" Mason glared at Naruto. "It's none of your business so don't get involved" the response Mason got however, wasn't what he expected.

Naruto just looked at him with a raised eyebrow. "I wasn't talking to you Hawke. The question was meant for your mother" needless to say the brothers were somewhat surprised, though Carver wondered exactly where his friend was going with this. Yes, surprisingly enough Carver and Naruto had gotten to know each other rather well over the past week. So much so that out of everyone in the group, Carver knew more about Naruto than everyone else combined. While Carver realized that Naruto hadn't been completely honest with him about his past, he didn't try to pry out the details. After all he had pretty much done the same in regards to his brother's apostate status.

"I've already lost my daughter to Dark spawn. It's bad enough that one of my remaining children is going into the Deep Roads, the home of the Dark spawn. I don't want to end up losing them both!" the woman was practically in tears at this point. Naruto stood there arms crossed and eyes closed in understanding before pulling Carver off to the side. "I don't think you should go Carver" Carver looked like he'd just been slapped in the face. Before he could turn on his friend however, Naruto interrupted him. "There's more that you could accomplish here in Kirkwall than you could on this expedition" Carver was now confused as he asked Naruto what he was babbling on about now. The whiskered blonde smirked "Think about it Carver. If you go on this expedition with your brother how will you end up making a name for yourself? You'll only be known as Mason's brother. Who will watch out for you mother's well-being? Surely not you're Uncle Gamlon? Stay here, find a place for yourself and then climb to the highest position you can. If you do that, then when your mother gets your families noble status back it will only help your own cause will it not?"

Carver thought about it. Naruto made a very good argument, Mason would likely end up making a name and an even bigger reputation for himself. He however, would likely end up risking his life just to let his brother best him, or die trying for that matter. Carver lay his hand on the blonde's shoulder before he smiled, nodding his thanks before leaving to let his family know he was staying. With that taken care of the expedition got underway with Mason, Anders, Varric, Fenris, and Merrill helping provide protection, while Naruto helped carry the supplies. The argument that had happened minutes ago completely forgotten. The exchange between Carver and Naruto wasn't however, nor had the conversation the two friends had with each other gone unnoticed. 'Looks like I got the wrong impression about you Whiskers. I hope you keep proving my assumptions wrong.' Varric thought with a small smile on his face as they left the city.

Deep Roads six days later

It was official; he had tried to come up with an excuse for it. Tried to pass it off as a misunderstanding of some kind. That it was just the irritation of having to deal with that foul evil creature Varric called his brother. But no more, he understood now that these people were trying to drive him insane with the torture they had put upon him. "Something wrong Whiskers?" Naruto just slowly turned his head to look at the amused expression on Varric's face. "When I find out which one of you got me these clothes, I'm going to prank you to the point of insanity….."

Most people at this point would be laughing at this point. Who wouldn't after finding out the greatest torture Naruto Uzumaki was suffering from currently would be his new clothing. It wouldn't be the case if they decided to walk a mile in Naruto's shoes, metaphorically speaking. He couldn't understand how anyone could wear this stuff. Currently he was wearing a pair of brown pants made of an unknown and incredibly rough itchy material probably originating from hell. His shirt consisted of a thick heavy leather vest lined with wool, which happened to be too tight causing his necklace to dig into his skin. It also didn't help that the Deep Roads were so damn hot either. Finally he wore a pair of heavy brown leather boots; every foot step was so damn loud! A bloody genin could have found him blind folded wearing these things. The only other things he wore from his previous outfit was his necklace, fore head protector, and the weapon pouch strapped to the outside of his left leg. All his other belongings were in a sack tied to his rope belt.

He honestly wished he could change into the spare set of clothes he kept in his storage scroll, but he couldn't do that for two reasons. First he didn't have the time to do so, as Bartrand the slave driver wasn't going to give everyone a break for another hour or until the next major tunnel junction.

Second he didn't think he'd have any hope of earning the trust of his potential allies or their help in getting him back home, if they discovered what he could do. Which was a reasonable possibility since he hadn't told them he was a shinobi or what he could do with good reason. Out of the eight individuals he'd become involved with during his time in Kirkwall, he could only sense the presence of Mason Hawke, Anders, Fenris, and Merrill. The four of them had an energy similar to chakra but different from it at the same time. He'd probably need sage mode to sense anyone else without this energy. If they were to find out about his skills he didn't know what would happen.

Varric just looked at him and laughed when he heard Naruto's response. The suffering shinobi gave Varric a suspicious stare. "It was you wasn't it?" Varric just grinned at Naruto. "Who knows? It could have been anyone." He said as they walked along the tunnel with the rest of expedition. During their time in the Deep Roads Varric had decided to get to know Naruto a little better. He had been pleasantly surprised to discover that Naruto was actually a pretty decent person, and they had gotten along rather well in the past few days. He'd originally disliked Naruto because of how Merrill acted around him. The elf would sometimes look confused or suddenly seem startled, and in each case she would turn and look directly at Naruto. Being rather protective of his friend he just assumed Naruto had been deliberately causing it somehow. Even after both Anders and Hawke had told him there was no magic being cast by Naruto, he still thought he'd been doing something.

It was only on the second day of the expedition when Naruto had asked him, why Merrill acted strangely whenever he was near her. Then and only then had Varric understood that Naruto wasn't deliberately causing Merrill's behavior. From that point on they'd become more friendly towards each other. Well Varric was friendlier to Naruto as the blonde was always friendly.

Before Naruto could make any further accusations he was stopped by the frustrated shouting of Bartrand. Varric looked behind him towards Hawke and Merrill before grinning. "Looks like there's a junction up ahead." Fenris who was strolling and casually trading insults which seemed more like barely veiled death threats with Anders paused only long enough to question how the dwarf could know this.

"He's yelling again" Anders heard this and groaned. Naruto could understand his misery given his own occupation. Plus when you were trying to avoid the things living in the Deep Roads, yelling almost constantly generally wasn't a good idea. "Bloody idiot's going to have the Dark spawn all over us" Hawke mumbled receiving nods of agreement from everyone in earshot. Merrill looked like she was about to ask Naruto a question when she paused, an expression of genuine confusion upon her face. "How can he not know?" she whispered as she stared at Naruto when he wasn't looking. Her question and confusion went unnoticed by everyone else except Varric. The dwarf however, didn't say anything deciding to keep this event to himself for now since Merrill had been speaking with Naruto earlier that day. He'd heard the word tattoo mentioned a few times but not the whole conversation.

"Umm what exactly is a Dark spawn?" Varric looked over at Naruto surprised at what he'd asked. Fenris chuckled softly as if amused by the joke he believed Naruto was about to direct towards Anders, who oddly enough was the one member of their group that he didn't really get along with. The elf's amusement disappeared however, when Anders told Naruto he wasn't in the mood to deal with humor from a pack mule and Naruto didn't respond with a better insult.

"No, seriously what's a Dark spawn?" everyone turned to regard their whiskered companion with a confused expression. Anders looked at his fellow blonde with a raised eye brow. "You actually don't know about the Dark spawn? The Blight? What about the Grey Wardens?" all Naruto did was shake his head. Everyone was a bit surprised by this which caused Naruto to believe he'd just made things difficult for himself somehow. It wasn't until Hawke suggested he might be suffering from amnesia caused by Merrill's magic however, that the group dropped the issue.

Anders sighed, since it now fell to him to explain things to the young man. He briefly explained their origin being the result of blood mages and their arrogance, causing Merrill to wince unnoticed by Naruto. Then he explained the Blight and arch demon with some aid from Hawke who had been in the middle of one, before following up with the Grey Wardens boasting about his own accomplishments naturally. He was about to discuss the individual Dark spawn themselves when Naruto asked how the Dark spawn could be considered a threat now if there were so few in the Deep Roads now. "What should we be so worried about? I mean so long as we don't get over run by to many of them we can fight them off right?" Anders just shook his head. "I wish that were the case but it's  
not that simple" Anders scratched the back of his head pondering a way to explain the effects of Dark spawn blood, causing Hawke to do so instead. "Well Naruto, it's because Dark spawn are poisonous in a sense. See Dark spawn flesh and blood is corrupted. Anyone who consumes either of the two will eventually die without the proper remedies, though eating the flesh will take much longer to kill a person than the blood"

Naruto just gave Hawke a dead pan expression as he responded with "Here's a solution then. Don't eat them" causing Varric to grin and Anders to finish what Hawke started. "The Dark spawn taint their weapons with their own blood which is more effective. Additionally some of the Dark spawn are unique, capable of using magic or performing amazing feats of physical prowess. Ogres for example are easily capable of taking on twenty or even thirty soldiers easily due to their size and strength, while Shrieks though smaller are as fast as an Ogre is powerful."

By now the entire expedition force had reached the latest tunnel junction. While as usual Bartrand was busy cursing and getting scouts to check out the three routes. These three tunnels from left to right seemed to head north-west, north, and north-east, though Naruto couldn't really say as it was hard to tell direction underground. Naruto just sighed relieved to take a break from the fifty pounds of gear that wouldn't fit on the wagons they had. Shinobi he may be, but walking for six hours straight in itchy clothing, sweltering heat, and all while carrying an extra fifty pounds of gear was not pleasant to say the least. So he was quite pleased when Bartrand told everyone that until the scouts came back they would be staying here.

The first scout came back from the north-eastern tunnel after about three hours. That route apparently was no good since it eventually got too small for the wagons according to the scout. After another six hours had passed the expedition was forced to set up camp since they couldn't afford to pick a route at random and then be forced to turn around for choosing wrong. It was during this time that Naruto had decided to talk to Merrill, try and get to know her a little better. He really didn't know well anything about her actually, aside from her name and that she was an elf. It was partly Varric's rather protective nature towards given their situation, but mostly his own fault given his new found friendship with the dwarf.

He found Merrill busy setting up her own bed roll. Before he could ask if she needed anything however, the sound of crates breaking reached his ears. The cursing and yelling which followed it from Bartrand let him know it was just an accident. "The boy just lost his grip for a moment mesere. Please just leave him alone, I promise it won't happen again" This caught the attention of the blonde sage as he turned to see Bartrand about to strike another rather young looking dwarf in the face. "Please sir it was an accident!" an older brown haired and short bearded dwarf who was defending the younger said again as went to hold Bartrand back. His efforts were in vain however, as Bartrand just punched him in the gut knocking the wind out of him. As the protective dwarf fell to his hands and knees, eyes staring at the ground in pain, Varric's brother raised his hand to strike the younger dwarf once more.

Merrill had just finished setting up her bed roll. 'I wonder what Varric's been talking to Naruto about?' the dwarf had been keeping the blonde man away from her. She didn't really blame Varric for doing so; he was just looking out for her after all. She'd been surprised though at how quickly Varric had gone from disliking Naruto to becoming his friend. There was just something about him that made people just like him. 'Well most people' she thought with a smile as she thought of the bickering that went on between Naruto and Anders. Deciding to find Varric and get something to eat Merrill grabbed her staff. Before she could stand though she suddenly felt an odd sensation on her skin. It was as if someone had lightly trailed the soft tip of a feather along her exposed skin, while she closed her eyes preparing to feel the rush of dry air create a sudden breeze from her moving.

Merrill's eyes snapped open as she came to a realization this wasn't her. A quiet swishing noise caught her attention. Spinning around staff ready to strike out with the lightning energy it contained. She wasn't prepared however, for what she ended up witnessing next.

Confusion clouded Bartrands face as he went to strike the young dwarf. Try as he might though his arm refused to budge. His confusion was short lived however, when he heard a voice speak in a calm tone that belied the barely restrained rage coursing through its owner. "I wouldn't do that if I were you" Bartrand turned his head wondering who dared to interfere in his business, only to find himself staring at a pair of sky blue eyes cold as ice.

Now most reasonable people at this stage would be smart enough to drop the issue and leave. Unfortunately Bartrand wasn't a reasonable person. "Do you know who I am? I'm in charge of this whole expedition, so unless you'd rather not get paid I'd suggest you get lost!" The man's grip on his arm suddenly went from being annoying to incredibly painful. At this point Bartrand made the worst mistake possible. He drew a knife on a shinobi. Naruto suddenly got some dust in his eyes forcing them shut and never saw the knife coming.

Merrill couldn't believe her eyes. One minute Bartrand looked like he was going to stab the whiskered blonde in the stomach. The next he was face down on the cave floor being held there by Naruto's foot on his head. This wasn't what she was having difficulty believing however; it was the fact that during their confrontation Naruto suddenly appeared to have thin blue and green mist like tendrils appear from his body. When Bartrand's knife arm passed through them Naruto suddenly reacted with his foot in the dwarf's face where upon they just as abruptly disappeared. Before she could begin to even think about what had just happened however, Varric had arrived and it seemed things might get violent once more.

"You'd better have a damn good reason to be standing on my brother there Whiskers" Naruto looked up from Bartrand to see Varric leveling Bianca at his head. He understood that at this distance there was no way Varric could possible miss him that is unless he revealed his status as a shinobi which was not an option. Before he could speak however, the older dwarf Bartrand had hit surprisingly moved to stand between him and Varric. "He was just trying to protect me and my boy mesere. He only acted out of self-defense."

Varric lowered his crossbow a little bit though keeping it at the ready. "What are you talking about? Protect you from who?" he asked though he already had a pretty good idea about the answer to his question already. "Well you see my boy and I were just moving some of the crates around when he lost his grip on one causing it to break. Master Bartrand here came to investigate and when I told him what happened he went to hit me boy. I got in his way begging him not to do it, only to be punched in the gut. Master Bartrand went to hit my boy again when this young lad here stopped him. He only knocked your brother to the ground because he pulled a knife on him after refusing to leave."

Varric nodded knowing this was the truth, though as much as he hated to take his brothers side he had to with him being in charge of the expedition. "Can anyone else confirm this?" he asked the dwarf. The dwarf looked about desperately in some vain hope one of the other workers would step up and help this young man out. Everywhere he looked however other workers were looking away in fear of Bartrand's wrath. "It's true I saw everything Varric" everyone turned to look at the speaker in surprise. Bartrand glared in rage as this was one of the few people he couldn't take revenge on without being called on it, by his brother in particular.

"Are you sure Daisy?" Merrill nodded; she had indeed witnessed everything though she left a few details out of the record such as those blue and green tendrils. Varric smiled finally putting his crossbow away as he turned to look at his now standing brother. "Well Bartrand you'd better get going, as I'm sure you wouldn't want your business partner to find out about this. I know for a fact he doesn't like that kind of behavior" The dwarf winced at that statement as he still need Hawkes support for this little venture. "This isn't over you blonde bastard" he said rubbing his sore face before walking away "Not by a long shot."

Naruto watched Bartrand walk off. He knew full well that conflict between them wasn't over just yet. He was brought out of his thoughts however, by someone pulling on his arm. Looking down he saw the young dwarf he'd defended from Bartrand. "Enchantment" he said before placing a stone of some sort in Naruto's hand. "I do believe that my boy is thanking you for what you did just now." Naruto turned to look at the other dwarf before turning back to the other. "It was nothing. I just did what was right" the bearded dwarf walked over to the younger blue eyed dwarf with a look of satisfaction on his face.

"Nonsense meserre. You got involved in something no one else would have without a thought for yourself and for that you have my gratitude. The names Bohdan and this here's my boy Sandal" the blonde dwarf hearing his name smiled giving Naruto the impression he was a bit simple minded. Naruto was sure that Bohdan would have gone onto to mention the blonde dwarf's story if said blonde hadn't seen Naruto's necklace and tried to desperately grab it for a closer look. Before Naruto could react he was being held bent over at the waist in order to prevent Sandal from choking him to death with his necklace. The dwarf was fascinated with it though Naruto couldn't understand why; Sandal examined it constantly whispering enchantment, so softly you could barely hear him.

Unbeknownst to Naruto this had immediately caught the attention of Varric raising questions in his mind. Before he could think too much about these questions however, he was brought back to the present by the sound of Merrill's questions regarding dinner. The dinner call sounded however, saving Naruto from an aching back by Sandal's momentary distraction and having the expedition members gathering to eat.

It was one of the few things Naruto still hadn't gotten used to in this world. 'What sort of hellish place is this that doesn't know the divine substance that is ramen?' the blonde thought to himself yet again as he received a hunk of bread and a small serving of stew. He could go without the ramen he knew, but it wasn't something he would be satisfied with until he found some. "Choji would be in tears if he had to see this" he chuckled to himself as he stared at his small meal. "Who's Choji?" Naruto looked up from his meal to find Merrill sitting down at the small fire he'd made for some light. He suddenly remembered her question as he forced himself to tear his gaze from her face and the show of colors that the fire light seemed to make in the reflection of her eyes.

"Choji's an old friend from back home. He really enjoys food and tends to eat a lot. If he were here right now I'm sure he'd be in tears over the size not to mention the quality of this meal." Merrill seemed to think about what he said for a moment as an awkward silence began to form between them, neither sure what to say to the other in their first real conversation with the other. After what felt like hours it was Merrill who broke the silence, asking about what his home was like. Naruto gazed into the fire a small smile on his face as he reminisced about home. He thought it would be ok to tell Merrill about his home in a little bit more detail than what he'd told Hawke and the others.

"I was born in the land of fire in Konohagakure no saito…" he paused upon seeing the clearly apparent confusion on the elf's face. "It means The Village Hidden in The Leaves." He said with an amused expression on his face clearing up her confusion. He then went on to tell her a little bit about his home land and in return learning a bit about her and the Dalish people, their chat lasting for most of the evening until Merrill eventually dozed off.

Later that night

Merrill woke up gasping for air terrified; she couldn't remember the last time she'd been so scared. She was glad she couldn't remember the whole nightmare. What she did remember though she wouldn't forget about for a while. Flashes of brutal fighting, and explosions ripping apart the bodies of both the living and dead alike came to her mind. That was all she remembered, but it had all felt so real as if she'd been there seeing and feeling everything that had happened.

The sound of light snoring to her left caught her attention. Looking over she saw Naruto lying on the tunnel floor asleep a few feet….away from…her….bedroll. And at this point her face turned a bright cherry red as she realized she'd just slept in another man's bed. 'I'm so glad Isabella didn't come along' she thought to herself. Isabella would've turned this innocent act of kindness on Naruto's part into a grand and wild tale fit for the taverns. Something she would never hear the end of. The sound of Naruto snoring once more brought her attention back towards the long spikey haired blonde. It seemed that when she'd dozed off he let her use his own bed roll. It would also seem that he'd taken his rather thick wool shirt to use as a pad against the cold tunnel floor, exposing his lean and toned physique….

'No! Bad Merrill! Stop staring!' she thought. What had gotten into her? It was as if she'd been spending time with a harlot and their behavior had rubbed off on her!

Kirkwall

In the Hanged Man Isabella sneezed. Carver looked at her concerned. "You're not coming down with something are you?" before the former ship captain could respond however, Aveline spoke up. "She's probably caught something from one of her many regulars and spread it to half the damn city by now." Isabella glared at the guardswoman muttering "Bitch" under her breath. Only for Aveline to mutter "Whore" right back at her from across the table. Poor Carver stuck in the in-between the two drinking women could only curse Naruto for convincing him to stay in the city as both women began trying to force him to take their side.

Deep Roads

Getting her blush under control Merrill wrapped herself in his blanket as she made her way over to Naruto. She originally planned on returning his blanket so he wouldn't freeze, before making her way back to her own bedroll. Fate it seemed had other plans however, as she found herself drawn to the whiskers on his face. 'Those have to be tattoos. There's no way those are birth marks.' She paused unable to take the large blanket all the way off her shoulders so that it covered the young man. This would probably be the only opportunity to find out for sure. In the end temptation and curiosity won out over common sense.

Reaching out slowly she gently rubbed the tip of a finger along one of the lines. She was surprised to find that it was slightly grooved and indeed a part of Naruto's face. She nearly jumped out of her skin though when she heard a sudden low growling noise. It was only when Naruto unconsciously started trying to rub his face into her finger she located the source. 'Is he….. No he couldn't be' she thought as she gently ran her finger along his whisker again only for the growling to once again occur. She almost burst out laughing. The blonde man was purring from having his whiskers rubbed!

Getting her giggling under control with some difficulty, she began to drape the blanket over him. 'Just once more. It's too funny not to' she thought as she rubbed his face once more. And then Lady Luck decided the young elf's luck had run out. For when the purring started as Merrill turned and began to leave, the blonde rolled over onto his side swinging an arm. Merrill was suddenly knocked off balance and found herself held rather tightly in the sleeping blonde's vice like grip. Laying there face to face with the whiskered blonde man, Merrill realized she was screwed and it was her own fault. Carefully pulling the blanket over the two of them so as not to wake Naruto up accidentally, Merrill chose to go back to sleep and await the awkward morning that would undoubtedly follow. She found it strange however, as she slowly started to drift off that she felt so much safer in the arms of this stranger she barely knew, than at any other point in her life. Her last thoughts before she drifted off to sleep were 'It's nice'.


	4. Chapter 4 Cavern Chaos

**For those of you who were somewhat disappointed with the lack of excitement in the previous chapter I'm sorry. I originally meant to have some events occur but I only just avoided a case of near fatal writers block.**

***Shudders***

**You probably won't get another chapter for a few weeks since I have a crap load of essays to write. I got assigned six on the first day of classes and have only finished two of them. The research I have to hunt down for them is only a small part of the torture. The Kages paper work has nothing on this 'Hell Spawn' I'm dealing with.**

**Additionally I'm still new to the site in terms of posting polls and stories. I thought that I could have more than one poll going on my profile at a time. It would seem unfortunately (though I could be wrong and if I am and you know how to post more than one poll at a time on a profile please tell me) so here is what I'm going to do.**

**The poll for the element/s that I'm going to give Naruto is now closed. He will have the one with the most votes. If it's a tie between two than I will give him either both or what I think would be better. As of now I have swapped out the poll for Athenril the elf smuggler and whether you guys think I should add her into the story line as more than just a background character and possibly as part of the pairing. You get two votes in this poll though if you write a review for each of my chapters and mention what you want to happen I'll count those votes for each review, in addition to the poll as well. In about two weeks after the day this chapter has been posted I'll close the poll and switch it with a new one.**

**The second poll question is this: Should I write a Dragon Age and Naruto cross over with a Naruto and Morrigan pairing?**

**At any rate that's all I have to say before the disclaimers. So please pm me with your votes, send them in your reviews with your opinions, suggestions, flaws, and ideas about the story as it helps me make the story better as I will count votes in your reviews and pms.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own the rights to Naruto or anything associated with Naruto. I also don't own the rights to Dragon Age or anything associated with Dragon Age. Anything that I do own is my own personal creation and thus will likely never be known to the rest of the world…..So tell your friends and spread the word about the story cause I plan on taking this cross-over category by storm!**

"talking" "Hmm? You say something?"

'thinking' 'what's that noise'

_Flash back/memory/recent event_

**'demon/spirit thinking'**

**"demon/spirit speaking"**

Chapter 4 Cavern Chaos

Naruto's mental alarm clock (AKA his shinobi training) woke him up, though he didn't open his eyes, desparate to sleep and continue his dream for as long as possible. Why wouldn't he? After all he was in his own bed back home, he could smell the scent of forest surrounding Konoha wafting in on the breeze. His mission report could wait another hour or so. Plus he was interested in finding out what happened next with that expedition he was pretending to be a laborer in. More importantly though he'd pulled Hinata into his arms while asleep and he didn't want to disturb her…..

Naruto's eyes snapped open panic clearly evident for a few moments as he lay on his back. He calmed himself down as he realized it hadn't been a genjutsu. It had just been a dream. A dream based on an old memory.

'A bitter sweet memory now.' He mentally corrected himself as he remembered certain events. He turned his head to the right expecting to find Merrill asleep in his bed, though he wasn't completely surprised to find her missing as he was covered by his own blanket. A faint smile formed as he came to the conclusion that Merrill was indeed a pure soul. Comfortable as he was though he still had to get up, otherwise Varric would attempt to fulfill his promise of a rude awakening. "The teme has been getting up earlier each day" he mumbled under his breath. The only satisfaction he got out their little game was seeing the dwarf's disappointed face upon finding Naruto ready to hit the road for the day.

Naruto got up to go disappoint his short friend or at least he tried to as he discovered something was pinning his arm to the floor. Turning his head to the left he saw the reason why which nearly caused him to burst into a full on panic attack, screaming and all as he saw Merrill laying fast asleep atop his left arm. Slowly, ever so slowly, Naruto slid his arm out from underneath her torso. 'Please don't wake up. Please don't wake up. Please don't wake up.' He repeated over and over again in his head. Given his past experiences with women where he'd 'accidentally' ended up groping them, or he'd just been in the wrong place at the wrong time and was assumed to be a pervert. They or generally Sakura would then proceed to beat the crap out of him. Though it still wasn't his fault, after all it generally happened when he was on a mission, usually in the process of saving their life no less.

He had gotten his arm free and was slowly sliding his hand out from under the sleeping elf when his life was made rather difficult. He suddenly heard the faint echoes of Varric's heavy boots heading his way which caused him to flinch. His mistake ended up costing him dearly. Merrill started to shift in her sleep freeing up the blondes hand enough to try and pull it away quickly, which he attempted only to be caught in the metaphorical jaws of the trap he'd unknowingly created last night. His movement caused Merrill grab his arm at the elbow as she proceeded to snuggle up against him. He panicked a little causing himself to struggle and free arm. This only made things worse for the poor blonde however as during the struggle Merrill who was amazingly still asleep had snuggled up closer to him. She now had one leg bent at the knee, draped over his waist. Meanwhile she had pressed her chest against his side, her left arm going across his chest griping him tightly. She had somehow gotten her right arm under his left arm pit, going up across his back to grab his right shoulder. The only thing that made Naruto's situation worse at this point was that Merrill was now resting her head on his chest. A pleased smile formed on her face which Naruto knew would be interpreted as her having had a very good night filled with anything but sleep as she mumbled something along the lines of comfy.

Poor Naruto didn't have time to switch places with a clone either as Varric just then walked around a nearby wagon to see the pair. Naruto covered by the blanket from the middle of his chest down and Merrill covered by the blanket prevented the dwarf from seeing the clothing both were wearing. He didn't say anything, just drew Bianca and her bayonet before walking forward eyes masked in shadows. The unfortunate blonde shinobi was crying anime tears as the dwarf stood above him. He vaguely realized the smell of Konoha's forest had been coming from Merrill, at least he got to have a brief reminder of his home before he died.

Deep Roads…..three hours and a beaten Naruto later

"Oh come on Whiskers. I said I was sorry" Naruto just glared at Varric still feeling sore from the beating he'd received from the little misunderstanding. He'd been unable to escape or defend himself without revealing his shinobi skills and so had been forced to hope Merrill would come to his rescue. Which she did after sleeping for another hour. Awkward morning indeed.

Naruto was currently dressed and helping pack the wagons once more after receiving healing from Anders. That had been useful information to gain, even if it was unintended. He'd been curious about why Hawke, Anders, Merrill, and Fenris all possessed an energy similar to chakra though different. The healing techniques Anders used on him were different from the medical ninjutsu he'd experienced. For one thing they were faster though less effective. Certainly they healed a person as he'd watched the skin and tissue knit back together from some of the small cuts Varric had given him. They could also be used from a distance unlike the healing abilities used by shinobi medics given that Anders hadn't even come close to touching him in the process.

He winced as he bent down to pick up another crate. Unlike medical ninjutsu however, Anders healing abilities didn't do a lot for the pain, and they took more effort to completely heal more serious injuries. He'd come to the last conclusion when another worker came for help with a broken arm. After he'd finished Anders had looked rather tired.

'So Anders is the equivalent of a medical shinobi. He's probably nowhere near as strong as Sakura-chan physically, but that doesn't mean he hasn't got any offensive jutsu….errr spells.' Naruto thought to himself. After his healing session the blonde shinobi had put a few facts together and come to the conclusion that Hawke, Merrill, and Anders were all mages with the later specializing in healing. That left him in the dark concerning Hawke's and Merrill's abilities. Fenris was still a mystery as Naruto didn't think he was a mage given his obvious disgust for them. How did Naruto know anything about mages? Well spending a week living in the Hanged Man made gathering information easy with all the drunks at the bar.

'Pervy sage would probably be laughing his ass off if I admitted that his constant bar crawls actually taught me something' he thought with a small smile. Tuning back into the admittedly one sided conversation Varric was trying to have with him. The blonde quickly cut off the cross bow wielding psycho…..errrr dwarf.

"Varric-san I don't blame you for wanting to defend Merrill-chan like that but still that was a bit extreme. So before I let you go about your business just know one thing." At this point Varric felt a small shiver go down his spine as he gazed upon a face that just screamed it would find retribution.

"I'll call it even with you after you've managed to survive an hours' worth of pranking from me."

'Okay I don't know why I feel so worried, as that doesn't sound so bad.' The poor ignorant dwarf thought to himself as he walked away. Naruto on the other hand was just trying to keep a straight face, the poor dwarf had no idea exactly what he'd gotten himself into.

The young shinobi quickly went back to his previous train of thought regarding magic. Magic seemed to use a different source of energy. In comparison to chakra which was equal parts physical and mental energy, magic seemed to be more mental than physical. The ideal representation of the two would be a set of scales. The scale for chakra had physical energy on one side and mental energy on the other in an equal amount making for a perfectly balanced scale. It was for this reason that death by chakra exhaustion was possible; the body became too physically exhausted to continue functioning. Meanwhile the mind wasn't able to produce the energy required for the brain to send the correct number of signals to the rest of the body for it to know what functions it needed to perform. The end result being the collapse and failure of all the major body systems starting with the nervous system and eventually leading to death.

Magic on the other hand was more of an unbalanced scale. It seemed that it was more based on mental energy and less physical energy, of that he was certain. Being a shinobi he was required to have a basic knowledge of the body in a variety of areas, ranging from identifying injuries to identifying enemies in disguise from the way they moved and carried themselves. In essence after looking at Anders after he'd completely healed that broken arm, he'd been able to determine that physically he'd been fine. It had been more a case of him being mentally unprepared for a broken hand that caused him to be so exhausted, of this he was almost positive. In regards to his theory on magical energies however, it was more speculation and guessing than anything else. He didn't have any idea what mages could do as he'd only witnessed one possibly two different healing spells.

'If jutsu's are anything to go by than magic is probably just as vast and varied' the blonde thought to himself. There was one thing that did concern him though as it was the one thing he still hadn't been able to figure out. Why and how was he able to speak and understand whatever language it was that Merrill and everyone else spoke or vice versa? He assumed that it had something to do with the mirror that he apparently came out of.

'If that's the case though than why wasn't Merrill able to understand what Konohagakure no saito meant in her own language? Could it have something to do with her broken mirror?' He didn't have any solid way to prove his theory. If he was correct however, it only raised further concerns for him. Naruto had no way of knowing how long this universal speech would last. Would it just one day suddenly disappear? Was the reason Merrill hadn't understood the name of his village because it was already slowly fading away?

.

.

.

Understanding suddenly came to the young Uzumaki, and the answer to his last question was so simple he would have slapped himself if it weren't for the crate in his arms. Merrill hadn't understood the name of his village the first time because he'd said it in his own language. The second time he'd said it in the language she spoke and understood. 'So whatever is causing me to speak and understand this language affects me only to a certain degree, meaning I could probably switch back and forth between the two with some practice' such a skill could come in handy in the future. Still the first chance he got to learn this language Naruto planned on taking it. After all he didn't know or understand most of the details regarding this language problem of his, meaning it could still disappear at any time.

Deep Roads…..mid-day

The wagons had all been loaded up once more though they were left where they'd been placed yesterday. Bartrand was still waiting for a scout to come back from the two tunnels that hadn't been on his map. Everyone else was relaxed, using this spare time to rest or stave off their boredom with some card games. Naruto had just been kicked out of yet another card game because of the return of his almost divine luck. In hindsight however, it hadn't been worth it in Naruto's opinion. He'd only managed to collect about 30 copper pieces and that had been after playing in five separate games.

'Still better than nothing I guess' he thought to himself as he wandered aimlessly around the camp. 'I just wish people would stop laughing at me'

Word about what had happened between him and Varric that morning had somehow been found out. Unfortunately for the young blonde it had ended up spreading like wildfire among the members of the small expedition. At least no one had been bothering Merrill about it though that was more out of fear of Varric than anything else. On a whim he pulled the rune that Sandal gave him yesterday to look at. It was a strange design to him at least, as it was just a few random lines. From what he'd learned about runes from Bohdan he'd been able to determine that it was similar to fuinjutsu, though it appeared to be more limited in its uses. Unlike fuinjutsu however, runes could be used to enchance weapons in a variety of different ways. Not that fuinjutsu couldn't be used in the same way if his father's Hiarashin technique or explosive tags were anything to go by. It was more appropriate to say that it was just safer in comparison. Naruto was slightly jealous about that fact but was able to take some satisfaction in the fact that runes not only took time to make, but the enchanting performed to let the rune function could only be done to a rune. His Fuinjutsu on the other hand could be done pretty much anywhere and to anything in a matter of seconds if necessary.

Pulling his attention back to the rune he wondered what it could do. Bohdan hadn't been able to tell him anything about it. Despite keeping illustrated descriptions of each rune Sandal had ever made since meeting him, this was the first time Bohdan had ever seen this particular rune. He'd promised to tell Bohdan what it did when he got the chance. Naruto may not have known the two dwarves for more than a day but he still had a connection to them, Sandal in particular. While runes and fuinjutsu were different things the dangers that they posed to their practitioners were essentially the same. As a master of fuinjutsu Naruto understood these dangers very well.

'I'll be damned if I let it happen to anyone else ever again' he thought as he briefly remembered about past events. He was brought out of his thoughts when his wandering brought him face to face with a rather upset looking Bohdan.

"Have you seen him?"

"Bohdan what's the matter? Calm down and tell me what's going on?"

Bohdan took a few breaths to calm down before he started explaining. "It's Sandal, he's missing. I told him to stay put by our wagon while I got us something to eat. When I came back he was gone, I've asked around but no one's seen him."

"Alright then he probably hasn't gone too far. Go find Varric and have him tell Hawke and the others about this. I'm sure that they'll help find Sandal." Naruto said to the distressed father before he started walking off. Bohdan was stunned, out of everyone on this expedition this young man had given him the impression he'd help anyone no matter the danger to himself at the drop of a hat. Yet now when he really needed the help he was leaving him.

"So that's it. You're just going to leave my boy to fend for himself!?"

Naruto stopped mid-stride to fix Bohdan with a blank emotionless stare from over his shoulder. For a second the dwarf was afraid he was about to beaten very badly for what he'd said. "I never said I wasn't going to help you Bohdan. I thought what I was about to do would have been obvious by now." Responded blonde with a smile, before he resumed walking once more. Bohdan watched him walk away for a few moments before rushing off to do as he'd suggested. 'You truly are a bright light in this dark place mister Uzumaki.'

Naruto was jogging through the northern half of the campsite looking for Sandal. He'd already encountered Merrill and informed her of the situation. They'd gone their separate ways to search for the boy, Merrill heading North-east and Naruto heading North-west. The blonde shinobi had just finished searching the entire north-western section of the encampment without any luck. By now Varric and the others were probably searching the southern half of the camp, he could only hope that everyone else was having more luck than him when he ran into Varric in the middle of the camp.

"Any one find him yet?"

Varric just shook his head. "We've searched the entire southern half of the camp but come up with nothing. Judging by the look on your face however, I'd half-hazard a guess that Sandal's in the north-eastern section."

Naruto just smiled at Varric's intuition. It was one of the qualities he liked about the dwarf as it reminded him of Shikamaru back home. Before he could voice a reply however, the relaxed camp atmosphere was disrupted by the sound of screaming. Spinning around crossbow and kunai at the ready, the dwarf and shinobi were confronted with the sight of two strange looking armed creatures chasing a man towards them. Varric took next to no time in sending a crossbow bolt deep into the throat of one creature, causing it to grasp at its obliterated throat in a futile effort to stop its bleeding. Before the dwarf could take aim at the second creature it was in front of him sword raised to strike him a fatal blow. Unfortunately in its blood lust the creature had forgotten about Varric's companion.

Naruto came in from the creatures right side delivering a vicious kick that shattered the bones around its right knee. Howling in agony, the pain in its leg forced the creature to lose its balance and attempt to catch itself in a kneeling position, while making a desperate slash towards its blonde assailant. The instinctual speed at which it reacted would have caused a minor wound at best to any seasoned warrior not carrying a shield on their left arm. To the creatures misfortune however, the blonde assailant hadn't stopped moving after the kick.

Naruto had kept moving after the kick predicting such a feeble counter attack from the thing. With his right hand he caught the creatures right arm mid-swing, before quickly pivoting on the balls of his feet. He killed it instantly with a back handed stab of his kunai, using the creatures own weight and momentum against it as he slammed the point of his weapon through the bottom of its jaw. The sword in its hand slipping from lifeless fingers as the corpse collapsed on the cavern floor in a pool of almost black colored blood.

Varric had been prepared for the creature getting into his personal space, after all that was why Bianca had a hidden bayonet. What he hadn't been expecting was the swiftness in which Naruto had dispatched it. Not a single moment or movement had been wasted in his attack. Right there and then Varric knew without a doubt that Naruto wasn't some simple blacksmith's apprentice making a delivery before he'd ended up in Kirkwall like he'd told everyone. No, skills and reactions like the ones he'd just shown weren't something you just acquired from farming or other types of work. Skills like that were the result of many years' worth of training and constant battle.

The dwarf shared a look with Naruto that the blonde recognized. He knew the dwarf had questions for him after his little display. Varric planned on getting answers to them and both individuals knew that nothing would throw him off his search for the truth. Much to the dwarf's annoyance however, the creature's original target intervened in the situation. The man was babbeling incoherently about how grateful he was and such before he froze up.

Throwing himself at the dwarf, he grabbed Varric and once more started babbeling almost incoherently. A quick slap from the dwarf got the man's attention as Varric proceeded to ask what the hell he was going on about.

"Darkspawn! From the northern tunnel!"

Before Varric could get any more details the man ran off in terror further into the camp away from the tunnels. Naruto glanced at the dead creatures briefly. "So these are Darkspawn?" Varric looked at him once before heading in the direction the man had come from.

"Yeah these ones are Hurlocks. Their pretty much the infantry and cannon fodder for Darkspawn attacks. Still where there's one generally a few more are nearby. Let's just hope it's only Hurlocks" Naruto and Varric quickly made their way to the northern section of the camp to find a few mercenary guards holding back a large group of Hurlocks. Before either could react they were pushed aside as a white haired blur rushed into the Darkspawn ranks. What happened next had Naruto giving an impressed whistle before he and Varric joined the fray.

Fenris burst into the Darkspawn ranks being confronted by two coming at his front. Before they could swing he'd disappeared only to reappear about three feet behind them. He didn't stop to swing at their unguarded backs, just kept moving forward towards another preparing to strike another guard down as the previous two died falling apart into two separate pieces each. The white haired elf reached the Hurlock and leapt straight up into the air releasing a loud war cry as he hefted the two handed blade above him. Distracted the Hurlock only managed to turn around to see the elf fighter bring the heavy blade down onto its skull cleaving it in half.

The fallen guard was about to say something but suddenly widened his eyes. Fenris wasn't caught unprepared thanks to noticing the man's facial expression. With the aid of many years training and battle experience the elf reacted instantly. Twisting the blade so the edge was facing horizontally to the ground, he spun a complete circle with the extended blade, causing three corpses to hit the ground. Not that Fenris really cared, as there were still plenty of Darkspawn left to kill and his initial rush had him a little tired.

Just as quickly as his fatigue appeared it disappeared as Fenris felt an outside source giving him strength. Quickly glancing behind him, Fenris gave Anders a brief nod of thanks before taking off for another group of Darkspawn. Fenris may not have liked mages or their magic, but it was times like now that he was willing to accept magic. Anders meanwhile was making his way to the fallen mercenary partly in order to heal the man. The main reason though was to provide more accurate support for his comrades, Fenris in particular.

Anders wasn't an average mage, he didn't need to see a person to cast his spells on them. Now one would think that would make the healer very dangerous if he decided to go on a killing spree with offensive magic as he'd be able to kill anyone from anywhere without them knowing. Fortunately for the enemies of Anders and his friends, he wasn't capable of doing magic like that, nor did spells work that way. Anders may not have needed to see a person to cast his magic on them, but there were some restrictions that he couldn't avoid in doing so. First he needed to be familiar with the individual, meaning he needed to have spent a decent amount of time with them. Second the individual had to be within the range of his spells which the first condition made both easier and difficult at the same time.

Being familiar with a person increased the range that they could be affected by his magic, so long as they were within his line of sight. At the same time however, in order to use this benefit he needed to understand the distinctive feel of their soul or life energy. Meaning that if he spent to much time away from someone the more their soul changed. Anders however, had found a small loop hole in these restrictions that went by the name of Fenris. Due to the magic performed on Fenris to make his tattoos, the elf had two energy signatures one being his soul and the second being the mana in his tattoos which never changed. By focusing on the elf's tattoos, Anders was generally able to quickly locate his friends in the middle of great big brawls like this one since the elf usually made sure to keep close to them, particularly Hawke and Varric. The former warden had finished healing the guard and was moving further into the battle, when he caught sight of Hawke getting rushed by a group of five Hurlocks.

The poor Darkspawn never stood a chance against the mage. One minute they were running towards him, the next they rose straight up in the air before violently slamming into the ground. Before they could pick themselves up the Darkspawn were suddenly being pulled along the ground towards Hawke the same way a child slides down an ice covered hill. Before their momentum could stop however, the man quickly swept his staff in front of him forming a low barricade of jagged ice spears that brought about their end. A Hurlock suddenly ran out from behind a wagon towards him it's intent clear as day.

Before it could strike though the mage quickly spun about, the tip of his staff seeming to form a transparent clawed hand that raked across the creature's chest. The Hurlock's face contorted in agony though there were no apparent wounds on its body, the damage being done directly to its soul. The creature's agony didn't last long as Hawke followed up his first strike with another two forcing it backward. Now having some distance to work with the mage dealt the finishing blow slamming the bottom of his staff into the ground. The result was a massive spectral claw passing through the earth beneath the Hurlock's feet. Its clawed digits snapping closed crushing the pitiful creatures weakened soul, and causing the beast to fall dead on its face.

About ten minutes after Varric and Naruto had joined the fray, it was over. The Darkspawn were either dead or dying with the mercenaries finishing off the wounded. Meanwhile Varric had gathered Fenris and the two mages briefly filling them before confronting Naruto. He had questions for the blonde and he was going to get answers to them now. The blonde in question was leaning against a wagon with his arms crossed staring at the Darkspawn corpses.

"Alright Whiskers, start talking and I don't want any of that bull shit you've been feeding us since you woke up."

Naruto stared at the dwarf frustration evident in his eyes. He'd hoped that his short friend would have forgotten about his little display from earlier. Before he could answer the dwarf though something that sounded like a group of high pitched pigs squealing carried through the air, quickly followed by a much louder bestial roar coming from the north eastern section of the camp.

"What the hell was that….."

The screams of men dying soon filled the air, yet in all that noise a single word could be made out.

"Ogre!"

Before Varric could even begin to curse this interruption he heard Naruto whisper Merrill's name in a concerned tone. At that point the dwarf connected the dots. Merrill hadn't been in the battle with everyone else. She'd been looking for Sandal in the…..

The dwarf's eyes widened in realization. Varric grabbed one of the mercenaries pulling him to his eye level.

"You! Stay here and make sure he doesn't leave this spot!" he said pointing at Naruto who'd started to protest, stopping only when Varric glared at him.

"The rest of you come with me!" he yelled out before rushing toward the sound of battle.

Deep Roads – Merrill

Merrill was not having a good day to say the least. First there had been that awkward situation this morning between Varric and Naruto which had been her fault. Then Varric had started teasing her about how she'd slept for a whole hour during which poor Naruto had been beaten by him. She'd only made things worse for herself when she'd muttered in her defence, that it wasn't her fault Naruto had been so comfy. Unfortunately Varric had heard this and it only caused him to double his efforts. She didn't think it was possible for her face to get any redder than Varric's "questions" had made it. She never thought the dwarf could have such a perverted mind. When the dwarf had mentioned telling Isabella about Merrill's little 'misadventure' she'd practically had to beg him not to resorting to the most ludicrous bribes imaginable. Then she had run into Naruto and learned about Sandal's disappearance. She'd found him after a good ten minutes of searching, yet somehow she'd ended up losing him. When she'd thought her day couldn't get any worse the Darkspawn had shown up and were now killing everything in sight.

Right now she was running through the north-eastern section of the camp desperately trying to find Sandal in all this chaos. She only stopped to help the guards when they needed it, or when Darkspawn confronted her. She needed to find Sandal and get him out of here; it was her one and only priority at the moment aside from staying alive. She caught a sudden flash of blonde hair out of the corner of her eye. Spinning around she accidentally caught a Hurlock in the process of trying to strike her down, with one of the sharpened points of the large crescent moon shape on her staff. The edge dug into the Darkspawns arm pit, causing it to falter and give the Dalish woman an opportunity. Merrill quickly withdrew her staff as she stepped back to put some room between her and the beast. It was a smart move on her part as the Hurlock quickly recovered lashing out where she had once stood with a wild swing of its blade. Before the creature could move forward with another swing, Merrill struck the final blow.

Finishing her spell she launched a large stone fist which struck the Hurlock directly in the face. It died as a result of the impacting stones weight and momentum snapping its neck and killing it instantly. Merrill almost collapsed to the ground herself. The near constant spell casting she'd been doing while searching for Sandal had really taxed her. After that last rock fist spell she didn't think that it would be possible for her to use any magic outside of her staff. Not without a decent rest, which currently wasn't an option. Should she have to resort to using magic it was going to take a lyrium potion which she currently didn't have for her to do anything…..unless she resorted to using blood magic. The elf shook her head vigorously as she leaned on her staff. 'No I can't use that here! Not in front of so many witnesses!' catching her breath she headed off in the direction she saw Sandal going, unaware of the unique trio of individuals following her…

Varric twisted Bianca's bayonet in the gut of the Hurlock as he pulled the crossbow backward. Before the wounded creature could retaliate, the dwarf stepped back and launched a bolt into its head quickly ending the threat it posed. The group had split up to search for Merrill more effectively, with Anders and Fenris going off in one direction and Hawke staying with him. Speaking of which, the dwarf turned to provide the mage with some assistance with his two opponents, firing a bolt into a Hurlocks knee. Needless to say said Darkspawn really didn't appreciate Bianca's 'gift' not that it was able to complain very long.

Hawke froze his unhindered opponent with a spell of Winters Grasp before twirling both himself and his staff around to strike the unguarded face of his crippled opponent. The Darkspawn collapsed to the ground suddenly brain dead thanks to the spiritual nature of Hawkes staff. The sound of ice shattering caused the mage to spin around staff at the ready. Only to find a half shattered Hurlock with a familiar crossbow bolt lying in a pile of ice. Hawke turned to find Varric already on the move once again and just sighed to himself before running after the dwarf.

Varric was on a mission and it seemed like nothing could stop him. In truth it was a fairly accurate statement. The dwarf had already taken out three Hurlocks on the fly. The first had cut down a caravan guard and then tried to bull rush him from fifteen feet away. Bianca had ripped the thing's throat out with a bolt before it gone three feet. The second had come rushing around a wagon lashing out with a wild swing of its blade. Varric just rolled under the blade before getting to his feet and rapidly bringing Bianca in line with the back of the creature's skull an pulling the crossbow's trigger. After rushing off once more the third had come rushing at the dwarf, but by that point Varric could have cared less. Once it was close enough the expert marksman put a bolt in its knee mid-stride causing it to fall forward as a result of being unable to support its weight with the ruined joint. Before it had made it halfway to the ground the dwarf had run by slitting its throat with Bianca's bayonet.

'Come on Daisy where are you?' the thought constantly repeating itself like a mantra. He'd looked through most of the north-eastern section of the camp already, coming up with nothing. It was when he'd been heading towards the cooking grounds that the Anders and Fenris joined up with him and Hawke. Not a word needed to be said for the dwarf to understand that his friends had also come up empty handed. A quick glance at Ander's and Hawke told him that the two were both physically exhausted, though they'd still be capable of using magic given the lyrium potions that the two were currently consuming.

"Hawke, Anders you two stay here and catch your breath for a minute and then catch up. The elf and an I will go search the cooking grounds."

Fenris and Varric turned and started jogging towards the cooking grounds, not bothering to wait for a response. Fenris started to outpace the dwarf with his longer strides causing the elf to look down at his dwarven companion with another of his rare small smiles.

"Come on try and keep up midget"

"Would you just let that go already. It's not funny"

"No"

Varric just sighed to himself as he made a mental note to put a crossbow bolt in Naruto for even coming up with the statement. Well, maybe after he had finished interrogating the whiskered blonde. He pondered the mystery that seemed to be Naruto Uzumaki. There were just too many questions surrounding the man, like who he really was, how he got here, and where he came from. As Fenris and Varric rounded a wagon to enter the large circular cooking grounds, the dwarf was brought from his thoughts by the sight of two familiar figures in the center of the large rounded clearing.

There was Merrill down on one knee with a hand on each of Sandal's shoulders and a stern look on her face. Varric allowed himself to lean on back on the wagon behind him as he briefly closed his eyes and let out a sigh of relief. That relief was incredibly short lived however, when he opened his eyes and saw the trio entering the cooking grounds from the opposite side. Any hope he'd entertained of Merrill remaining unharmed quickly turned to despair when he saw what the trio did next. He was too far away to take a shot with Bianca, and he couldn't move fast enough to push his friend to safety though he was running and would be damned if he didn't try with Fenris by his side. Still he knew he wouldn't make it in time, and so he did the only thing he could do.

"MERRILL RUN!"

Merrill looked up to see Fenris and her closest friend rushing towards her weapons drawn as she started standing up. Her confusion lasted only a moment before fading when she heard the great bestial roar come from behind her. Spinning around she saw a pair of Shrieks flanking what had to be the largest Ogre she'd ever seen but that wasn't the most intimidating thing about this Darkspawn. The fact that this Ogre had a large metal plate on its left arm that looked like a shield. This shield had three jagged three foot serrated blades on the end covering its knuckles, in addition to the number of half foot long spikes covering the shield itself. It also had a set of plate armor protecting its legs with a pair of half a foot long metal spikes protruding from the knees.

The Ogre bent down offering its open right hand to one of the Shrieks which hopped on. Rising to it's full height of twelve feet the Darkspawn cocked it's right arm back with the Shriek balanced in it's massive hand. Suddenly with amazing force and speed it launched its passenger like a living missle towards Merrill and Sandal. It was at that point that time just seemed move at a standstill and every sound but the beating of her own heart was drowned out for the young Dalish elf.

There was only enough time for her to do one thing and as much as she wanted to follow Varric's order she couldn't just leave Sandal. Bohdan was right when he'd said his adopted son was a little simple, she'd spent five minutes with the boy trying and failing to get him to follow her to safety. Without a thought for herself she shoved Sandal out to the side and to safety. As the Shriek came flying at her, Merrill understood she was about to die and yet she wasn't afraid. She should have currently been going through those stages one has before they die. Perhaps watch her life flash before her eyes, yet none of this was happening. The Shriek was now fifteen feet away, it's arm extended backward.

Merrill was completely calm without a hint of regret. Perhaps she'd just not had enough time for the whole trip down memory lane. That must have been the reason she was so calm. She'd just jumped to the final stage of death, acceptance. The Shriek was now ten feet away stabbing forward with it's razor like talons eager to rip the elf's face off. Merrill just closed her eyes as she stood there waiting for the end. The Shriek was now five excruciating feet away from the woman, it could barely stand waiting those few seconds before the inevitable demise of its prey.

Merrill just stood there waiting for death's final embrace as a smile of pure joy graced her face. She stood there with her eyes closed just waiting as she experienced what she could only describe as being true peace as the wind passed across her skin. Wait wind…

The Dalish elf suddenly disappeared in the sound of an explosion followed with a cloud of dust. Varric and Fenris had stopped moving towards Merrill in favor of covering their eyes. Varric though was also at the same time trying to figure out exactly what the hell had happened. He could have sworn he'd heard someone shout something before whatever it was occurred. This puzzle could wait however, as Merrill's safety came first as the dust began to clear. It was what he saw however, when the dust had cleared which had the dwarf once more in a rare moment of being left speechless.

Merrill coughed repeatedly as she kneeled on the cavern floor. It was a few seconds before she was able to pull dust free air into her lungs and stand up. Opening her eyes with some difficulty as she squinted looking around in an attempt to determine what had happened. The dust was still rather thick though she was able to make out the silhouette of a figure kneeling about five feet from her current position. It was then that the dust finally disapated and the individual was revealed.

"Naruto?"

The whiskered shinobi rose to his full height attracting the attention of everyone but Sandal as he stood above the bloody remains of the shriek. He was no longer wearing the loaned clothing but rather a different wardrobe entirely. His heavy leather boots had been replaced with a pair of black shinobi sandals. His pants were now of a different material, similar in appearance to those worn by members of ANBU, with his shuriken holster strapped to his left hip. Around his waist was a belt made out of chains with his shinobi pouch connected to it in the back. In addition to his strange gauntlets he wore an orange sleeve less shirt that seemed to almost cling to his skin, while on top of that he wore a sleeve less cloak. The cloak was black with the bottom lined with orange flames and an orange spiral in the center of the back. His hair had been done up in a ponytail with the two bangs framing the sides of his face, as he wore his blue lined forehead protector.

Merrill hadn't really noticed the change in apparel. The entire time she been focused on Naruto's eyes. They seemed so cold and destructive, yet at the same time they radiated a sense of peace and warmth. They were mesmerizing…

Naruto glanced at Varric and Fenris who had apparently gotten over their shock at his entrance. They both shared a suspicious look on their face, though Varric's was based on his desire for answers, and Fenris's came from reasons of a darker nature.

"I'm sorry I lied, but I had my reasons"

Turning back to glare at the two Darkspawn who were now rushing him. His eyes were filled with hate if only for a moment. An emotion that seemed so alien to the Uzumaki he barely even registered it. He couldn't understand why he had even felt that hatred and so he brushed it aside attributing it to his tenant. His glare of hatred quickly became a soft gaze of pity as things seemed to slow down for the blonde shinobi. Closing his eyes as he stood above the remains of the former Shriek he spoke so softly that only Merrill could have heard him.

"You didn't ask for this life, and yet it was given to you. Your only doing what you know how to do and I can't blame you for that."

The Shriek quickly out distanced the Ogre though not by much so as to keep its ally close by. It was preparing itself to strike when the young blonde's eyes snapped open filled with determination.

"But that doesn't mean I can just let you continue with your bloodshed."

Merrill watched in confusion as the blonde started to rapidly form a series of random and odd hand signs. Her confusion however, quickly changed to yet another shocked expression when she saw the end result being a destructive ball of air. Before she could begin to assist the blonde however, the whispering started. Merrill collapsed to her knees though she didn't know it as her eyes seemed to take on a dazed appearance while the world in front of her went black.

"Futon: Renkudan!"

With that the blonde shot a blast of air directly at the Shriek. Unfortunately unlike its former counterpart and like the Ogre this wasn't an ordinary Shriek. The Darkspawn anticipating an attack dodged to the side letting loose a high pitched shriek before rushing towards the blonde. Naruto narrowed his gaze as he focused on the Shriek. He hadn't put a great deal of chakra into his renkudan technique, though he had done so deliberately. He planned on using this battle to test his skills and make sure he hadn't gotten rusty for starters. Of more importance however, he wanted to keep the damage to a minimum in addition to getting a better understanding of how to fight these Darkspawn. As it currently stood Hurlocks didn't pose a threat to him and where the equivalent of a group of bandits back home. Unless he got incredibly careless or there were unusual circumstances he'd be fine.

The other types of Darkspawn however, were a different story. Certainly he'd taken out the first Shriek with ease however, that had been due to his surprise attack and the Shriek's inability to dodge in mid-air. These two Darkspawn he was currently facing now though didn't fit the usual description that Anders had given nor did their tactics. This was why he'd only put enough chakra into his renkudan to give a high level genin difficulty.

'So, its speed is at least low to mid chuunin level on its own. Well let's see how it does in taijutsu'

A small smile graced his face as he rushed towards the Shriek at a low Jounin level speed. If a Shriek were capable of showing surprise on its face, than it would probably have looked like the expression on this Shriek's face. It didn't allow the shinobi's incredible speed to drop its guard however, as it lashed out with an upward strike of its talons. Naruto quickly leaned back avoiding the attack though before he could counter the Shriek launched a follow up strike at his extended leg, forcing him to jump backward. The Shriek was quick to follow not pausing to let the foolish mage get the chance to launch another spell at it from close range.

While this Shriek may not have been as intelligent as an average human it was still fairly smart for a Darkspawn outside the Emissary class. In the heat of the battle it couldn't help but notice that its prey was smiling while dodging the constant barrage of slashes. It couldn't understand what the prey was doing; it was as if the prey was enjoying itself. It didn't matter anymore though as the trap was set. Launching a final strike the Shriek threw itself backward, allowing its Ogre ally to land a devastating backhand with its spiked shield on the human. Much to the surprise of both creatures however, said human disappeared in a puff of smoke leaving behind the remains of a shattered crate on impact.

"Kage Shuriken no Jutsu!"

Suddenly a good two dozen throwing stars came flying at the Ogre and only blind luck prevent them all from lodging in the creatures back. The Darkspawn having heard the cry ended up spinning around with another left backhand of its shield causing some of the weapons to miss. The majority of the remaining projectiles were knocked aside by the shield with only half a dozen striking flesh and doing very little in terms of actual damage. Before Naruto could start the hand signs for a stronger technique the Shriek was on him once more forcing him to move or lose a good portion of his face to the beast's claws.

Naruto cursed his luck over how the battle was currently going. He'd underestimated his opponent's co-ordination, from all the stories he'd heard from Anders and Bohdan. The Shinobi hadn't considered the possibility that the two Darkspawn would work with each other and rather well at that. If he hadn't been paying attention to the direction the Shriek had been maneuvering him, than it wouldn't have been a shattered crate lying on the ground. The two Darkspawn complemented their two individual fighting styles perfectly. The Shriek while not being immensely powerful made up for it with it's high chuunin to low jounin level speed and agility. It could cover a great deal of ground very quickly to take out any possible threats to its Ogre counterpart. The Ogre on the other hand used the distraction it's partner would provide to slowly move closer while the Shriek herded stronger opponents toward it or prevent the smaller creature from being flanked and surrounded.

In his current predicament however, the situation was two against one and the odds weren't in the shinobi's favor. Without the use of Sage mode he didn't have any hope of matching the Ogre's physical strength and with the speed that the Shriek was using to fight him with he couldn't make a shadow clone without taking a hit which was bad. He remembered what Anders had told him about Darkspawn poisoning their weapons with their own blood. While he may have had the excellent immune system as a result of his Uzumaki heritage and the healing abilities of Kurama he had no idea how or what the effects such a poison might have on him, not to mention that healing him from poisons wasn't one of Kurama's strong points. Not that Naruto could use Sage mode this far underground anyway as there wasn't enough plant and wild life to produce the natural energy he needed anyway.

'That means I'll just have to rely on some more devastating ninjutsu for the Ogre. But first I gotta get rid of this pest!' the blonde thought as he avoided another swing from the Shriek aimed at his torso. The creature kept swinging at him, preventing him from getting his hands close enough to form hand signs and using only one handed signs would take too much of his concentration. Fortunately he had a plan.

As much as Varric wished he could have stood and watched a demonstration of Naruto's skills, he didn't have that luxery. About two minutes into the fight a group of about twenty Hurlocks had decided to show up. At that point it was open season for the dwarf though he picked his shots carefully since he only had about ten left. He took his time aiming and letting Fenris deal with the ones that started getting too close to Merrill who appeared to be in a daze and Sandal who just refused to move. The elf was restraining himself more than usual in this fight though it wasn't from exhaustion, but rather as a precaution. Fenris was hoping to hold out long enough for reinforcements to arrive or at least until Hawke and Anders decided to show up.

"Could really use some help right about now Daisy."

Merrill didn't say anything; she didn't even react to Varric's statement which only caused the dwarf to become even more concerned. Unfortunately he didn't have time to attend to his friend as he needed to pick his shots carefully right now, or end up being overrun by the Darkspawn. He was really regretting leaving Hawke and Anders behind now.

A sudden whistling noise from behind him had Fenris breaking off from his current opponent. The Hurlock thinking it had the perfect opening, attempted to strike at the elf's unprotected flank. Much to its dismay it discovered that the crossbow bolt that suddenly lodged itself in the creature's skull said otherwise. Fenris wasn't fairing much better than the now dead Hurlock though. He wasn't able to utilize his fighting style to its best given the current situation. Normally he would rush past the first few enemies, possibly taking a half-hearted swing at any that got too close, and engauge the unprepared individuals bunched up in the middle or back of groups like this catching them by surprise. He was able to last longer and do more damage fighting like this as his heavier blade could strike multiple foes causing massive damage, ranging from instant death to serious crippling wounds. This time however, instead of being able to cut down one stunned or surprised enemy after the next, he had to hold the Darkspawn off while the blood mage was out of it.

Fenris lashed out at the Darkspawn to his left causing a deep gash in its side as yet another whistling noise filled the air. Another of Varric's bolts struck a Hurlock to his right in the throat causing it to drop dead on the spot. The elf was quickly put on the defensive and forced to throw himself backward in order to avoid a swift decapitating strike. His forced retreat allowed three more Darkspawn to break away from him in an attempt to rush his comrades, though Varric quickly put an end them. Fenris hadn't noticed however, as he was too busy dealing with a greater threat. The Hurlock which had almost taken off his head was different from the rest.

It wore a set of plate leggings, a chain mail shirt, spiked pauldrons, and a heavy plate helm the creature was well protected. What made the elf's situation worse however, was his latest enemy's weapon. It was a massive two handed blade. One side of the blade crackled with electricity, while the other side appeared to be serrated and dripping with black blood. Fenris narrowed his eyes while mentally cursing Merrill as the Hurlock's closed in on him. The elf constantly whipped his blade from one parry to the next unable to even perform a riposte against the overwhelming numbers.

He was given a slight respite when Varric put down another two Hurlocks, allowing him to cut down one of his foes before he was back on the defensive once more. A blade swept out nearly catching him in the face. Fenris responded with a swing of his own blade which found its mark in the assailant's neck. In his constant state of defence and countering however, Fenris failed to notice three of the creatures had flanked him.

Varric's response was immediate as he dropped two of the creatures with a shot to the head and neck respectively. It was the third Hurlock where things went sideways. At the last second the Darkspawn had moved forward to strike Fenris causing the bolt to lodge into its shoulder. This created two problems for the dwarven marksman. First the creature broke off from Fenris and started to rush him with Fenris unable to help him. Normally this wouldn't be an issue for Varric as he'd just put another bolt or two into the beast ending the threat, except that had been his last bolt. Releasing Bianca's bayonet the dwarf prepared to hold off the raging Hurlock. Dodging a slash from its blade the dwarf thrust his own blade forward in the hope of ending things quickly only to have the Hurlock parry his attack. Varric was then forced to block an overhand strike aimed at his head. Taking a split second the dwarf looked over his left shoulder at Merrill.

"Come on Merrill snap out of it! I need your help right now!" His concern cost him however, as his opponent launched a kick into the dwarf's chest sending him to the ground with Bianca landing a few feet away from him. The Darkspawn was then before Merrill, its blade raised to strike a fatal blow. Even while it swung the blade Varric couldn't turn away from what he knew was about to happen. All he could do was scream out her name before blood suddenly burst into the air from metal piercing flesh.

**To be continued?**


	5. Chapter 5 Changes

**Wow ending that last chapter with that cliff hanger probably wasn't such a good idea in hindsight. The minute I posted that chapter I realized just how into the story some people were getting. I ended up spending the rest of the day paranoid that some of my readers might attempt to lynch me. However before anyone tries to do so or complain about the chapter 4 cliff hanger let me give you 2 good reasons not. First I had to end the chapter with a cliff hanger because counting only the words starting from "Merrill however, was currently fighting a battle of her own" up until it says "The young elf blinked a" gave the previous chapter a word count of 10,292 words. I was afraid that if I didn't split the chapter into two different chapters I'd have kept writing and gone over the unknown word limit programmed into this site or I would have suffered from several weeks or months worth of writers block, which was starting to happen. Plus this way I already had a head start on the next chapter and you got it sooner. Second if you do end up lynching me I won't be able to finish this story.**

**In other news the Athenril poll currently stands at 11 votes for adding her to the pairing, 9 votes for a part of the storyline with 2 vote for her not being in the pairing and 1 for not being in the story. I'm also still waiting for people to read and review every chapter I've posted. So far I've only gotten one person to do this and he/she has provided me with a great deal of questions to answer, and ideas to use in the future. I don't mind if I get reviews for each chapter that consist of "Yay this was an amazing chapter" in fact one review was just the following "I LOVE IT!" while another was "I wait. I wait. I wait for the update" repeated about 10 or 12 times before it ended with "I love it". I would just prefer to get reviews that raise questions like "what about the language barrier?" or suggestions hell even idea's about what you think should happen or what might be interesting or cool to read about in the future. While I already know for the most part what I want to do with the story a lot of great ideas have come to authors on this site in the form of reviews by their readers. At any rate though on with the story.**

**Disclaimer: The only thing I own from Naruto or Dragon Age is the idea for this story, the plot line, and my own personal creations and additions. Everything else belongs to the original creators and those who currently own the rights to the material. Now read and review every chapter or I'll find you and when I do I'll...ok well I haven't gotten that far yet but I'll do something!**

"talking" "Hmm? You say something?"

'thinking' 'what's that noise'

_flash back/memory/recent event_

"**people** speaking **in** sync"

'**demon/spirit thinking**'

"**demon/spirit speaking**"

Chapter 5 Changes

_Previously on the Chained Fox_

_Releasing Bianca's bayonet the dwarf prepared to hold off the raging Hurlock. Dodging a slash from it's blade the dwarf thrust his own forward in the hope of ending things quickly only to have the Hurlock parry his attack. Varric was then forced to block an overhand strike aimed at his head. Taking a split second the dwarf looked over his left shoulder at Merrill._

_"Come on Merrill snap out of it! I need your help right now!"_

Merrill however was currently fighting a battle of her own to maintain her sanity. The moment Naruto had started fighting her mind had been assaulted by a barrage of voices and images. It wasn't a spirit trying to possess her though of that much she was certain. If it had been than after a minute of the mental assault she'd have lost. Instead there seemed to be no objective to this collective of individuals speaking to her, at least she assumed it was a group of individuals though she wasn't sure.

The problem though was that they were all speaking at once. She couldn't understand everything either, it was like bits and pieces were lost while others were in a mixture of two separate languages. She caught bit's and pieces of things like "break rules trash", and "Squad seven". The images that flashed through her mind didn't make sense to her either. They consisted of battles between mages making strange hand gestures before making attacks with lightening, fire, gusts of wind, rock spikes, and water animals before they shifted to a woman with long dark hair and pure white eyes. The woman stood in a grove of pink colored trees with a smile on her face. She said something that Merrill couldn't catch before she slowly faded from existence, and for some reason the Dalish woman felt an emotion she could only describe as being bitter-sweet.

The world around Merrill suddenly faded to black and she was falling. She tried to grasp onto something, anything to stop or slow her plummet. And grab something she did, a cold metal chain hanging from a tree, one of hundreds. Relief was quickly replaced with terror as a pressure slammed over her and Merrill struggled to breathe. The ground below seemed to glow red releasing waves of rage, hatred, sheer raw power and it was only when it moved that the elf understood it wasn't ground. All she saw was a massive set of teeth and a pair of red black slitted eyes before her world exploded in unimaginable pain as everything around her slowly began to disappear. The last thing she saw was the blurry outline of two purple objects that spoke with a voice, filled with a commanding authority. The pain she was experiencing however, drowned out everything the voice said to her though as the last of her pain faded with the onset of unconsciousness she managed to catch a single word from the mysterious voice, before everything disappeared.

"Jinchuriki"

The young elf blinked a few times as she wondered where she was now. Was she being shown something else by her supernatural assailant? Just what the hell had it been trying to tell her? She winced as her head throbbed painfully with the onset of a migraine. 'And did it have to be so painful?' Before she could come up with anymore questions however, a piercing scream caught her attention.

"MERRILL!"

Merrill looked up and saw the Hurlock, it's blade descending towards her neck to fast for her to react in time. She closed her eyes and it was suddenly over, as metal pierced flesh and blood covered the cavern floor. The sound of a sword hitting the ground had Merrill opening her eyes. The Hurlock only had time to grab the chain connected to one of several large jagged hooks buried deep in it's skin, before it was suddenly pulled through the air.

Naruto's plan had originally been simple. Cripple the Shriek by ripping it's arms off with a rasengan. Varric's scream however, had drastically altered his plan...if it could be called a plan. The blonde shinobi dodged a right handed swipe from the Shriek causing it to scream in pain. The blonde had thrown a kunai piercing it's left shoulder. Admittedly he could have killed it but time was not in his favor. Immediately after throwing the kunai Naruto dropped into a bastardized version of a rather familiar stance with a smile.

'Neji's probably cursing at me right now.' he thought. The idea of the normally calm and collected Hyugga cursing his brains out at him only made his grin larger. However he didn't have any time for humor right now. His attention back on the task at hand, Naruto quickly began to perform his technique as he rotated and pivoted away from the wounded Shriek. He didn't stop there however, as he quickly pivoted again once his foot was firmly on the ground once more away from the Shriek and repeated the action again and again until he was within the twenty five foot range of his technique.

"Futon: Uzumaki Sutairu: Anchixe Indo no Daikronnodansu!"

With that Naruto channeled wind chakra to his right arm and generic chakra to the gauntlet on his left hand. The chakra conducive metal responded, instantly nullifying the seals holding the hooked chains in place, allowing them to extend to their full length from the speed of his rotation. Metal pierced flesh and blood covered the cavern floor. The Hurlock only had time to grab the chain connected to one of several large jagged hooks buried deep in it's skin, before it was suddenly pulled through the air to be used before ultimately dying.

Naruto was very proud of this technique as it was the third technique of the few he'd ever created. The first two had been his rasenshuriken and his bijjudama rasengan, though admittedly the second had been with Kurama's help. He still remembered the day he'd asked the Hyugga clan head Hiashi to teach him the Hyugga's rotation technique to create it. 'If Hinata hadn't been there I'd probably be brain dead from Hiashi's Jugen.' Though Hiashi had been impressed enough with the results that he'd decided to implement multiple modifications to the clan technique depending on the individual preference and elemental affinity of the clan's members.

Naruto's technique was in essence currently perfect for a variety situations and ranges depending on the chakra types and amounts used. Normally the Hyugga rotation was good for defense against long range attacks as projectiles were either deflected or bounced off, while most ninjutsu was also deflected or depending on the attacks strength redirected and taijutsu needless to say unless it was the raikage, Lee, or Gai was useless. With wind chakra being propelled from his right arm Naruto could further increase the strength of the techniques defense by increasing it's size. Additionally this also created a small low powered wind vortex that offered protection from attacks from above where the barrier was weakest.

The reason why the technique was dangerous though was because unlike the Hyugga's rotation, Naruto's choice of weapon in combination with the technique created a twenty five foot kill zone. Once his hooked chains pierced someone the fight was pretty much over depending on where and how many times they got hit. The hooks were jagged and barbed to prevent their removal, not that an enemy would get the chance hide and try to remove them. With the help of Tenten and her father, Naruto's gauntlets could reel in the extended chains. Additionally those hooks hurt when the blonde shinobi tossed the chains around. He knew from experience after getting one stuck in his leg and catching its chain on a railing. Naruto winced as he remembered that event, needless to say it had hurt like hell. In essence though it helped make up for his previous lack of ranged and defensive techniques.

While Naruto couldn't help but feel a little sympathy for the hooked Hurlock he remembered that the Hurlock wouldn't have felt the same were their places switched. A murderous high pitched squeal brought Naruto back to the situation at hand. The Shriek longer distracted had managed to remove the kunai and was currently rushing toward him with reckless abandon. Taking advantage of it's momentum despite the ended technique Naruto grabbed his extended chains and spun the Hurlock like he was competing in an Olympic hammer toss event. The end result was the Hurlock colliding with the oncoming Shriek making a sickening crunching sound as bones broke on impact. Naruto however didn't stop to view the aftermath, instead channeling a little wind nature chakra to his hooks he yanked back on the chains ripping the hooks out of the undoubtedly dead Darkspawn and then reeling them in. He spotted a pair Hurlocks rushing toward Varric and Merrill allowing the Ogre to slip in behind Fenris for a clear shot. Fast as he was he knew it wasn't possible for him to be in two places at once...

If it weren't for the fact he was wearing his gauntlets the blonde shinobi would've slapped himself. Making his signature hand sign Naruto made a single kage bushin, before racing off to aid Fenris.

'If we get out of this alive I swear I'll kill that damn blood mage, if she ever passes out in the middle of a battle again. Varric and the others be damned!' he thought while just narrowly dodging a heavy two handed swing from the lightening covered blade. Before he could take advantage of the opening it created, he was attacked from the right and forced to block. The Hurlock quickly recovered from its off balanced state and took a backhanded swing forcing the elf back once more. He was in a bad situation, every time he went to attack or exploit an opening in his opponent's defense one of the small fry would interfere.

'Its almost as though they've been trained in tactics, but that's just not possible. Their just mindless beasts.' As if to contradict his very thoughts the Hurlock launched a thrust towards his midsection forcing Fenris to side step the attack, only to end up immediately blocking a swipe from another flanking Hurlock. The elf gritted his teeth as he lashed out with a desparate pommel strike at his assailant's face. To his disbelief the Hurlock dodged the attack. He'd expected to either strike it dead in the face, block with it's shield, or jump back and wait like the others. Instead it had leaned to the side leaving Fenris exposed. Before the elf could react the creatures shield had impacted with his ribs. It was only thanks to his armor that his ribs avoided being cracked though he'd been knocked off balance, which as any warrior will tell you can be fatal.

Fenris knew this and understood he might very well die right then, but if that were the case than he planned on going out swinging. Even as he stumbled, Fenris swung his massive blade in a wild arc which probably saved his life. For when he was halfway through his swing the blade connected with the electrified half of the opposing Hurlock's sword. While the electricity hurt the former slave it also gave him the opportunity to regain his balance by knocking him off his feet. Now most would think that this would have the opposite effect and in most cases that would be true, if it weren't for what happened to Fenris a few seconds after being affected by the magical lightening. The lyrium infused tattoos covering his reacted to the magical lightening briefly coating the elf in a defensive barrier. Since this occurred while the lightening was affecting him though, Fenris still suffered some minor damage as the defensive barrier violently expelled the lightening launching him backward. This in and of itself gave him a slight chance to stand up once more, though with some difficulty as the electricity had played havoc with his muscular system, the opposing Hurlock however hadn't been as lucky. The expelled electricity had ended up striking it's chainmail shirt sending the burst of electricity throughout it's body. The Darkspawn spasmed a little dropping the blade, its enchanted lightning disappearing, while the creature itself fell to the ground knocked out cold.

Despite the muscle spasms Fenris managed a grin. Without that particular Darkspawn participating he stood a fair chance against the remaining four Hurlocks, though with his muscle spasms the battle could go either way. The remaining Hurlocks seemed to understand this as they all bunched up in front of him. It was a tense few moments that passed between the two sides each waiting for the other to make a move.

"Well come on then I don't have all bloody day!" as if obliging the elf a massive hand grabbed him from behind, and lifted him up into the air. It was then that Fenris came face to face with the Ogre while it proceeded to squeeze him in it's fist. It barely managed to avoid losing an eye when it brought the captured elf a little too close to its face. The Ogre enjoyed killing it's prey in this manner. Most victims dropped their weapons and couldn't reach any blades they might have hidden on their person. It allowed the Darkspawn to bring them up to it's face so it could watch the blood pour from their bodies while it squished them like a grape. It seemed that it wouldn't get to enjoy that pleasure with this one, maybe if the prey dropped the sword though. Before the great beast could think of how to go about with this idea it was distracted by the sudden pain of a sword striking it's forearm.

Fenris was desperate as the pain in his chest grew unbearable. He was thankful that he still had his sword as it currently was the only hope he had of surviving this. After missing the Ogre's face he'd been filled with despair as the pain increased even more and he just wanted it to end. Almost as if in answer to his unspoken prayer the pain and pressure on his torso lightened. If it weren't for the amount of pain he'd been in he could've sworn that the Ogre had been deep in thought. At the moment though he could've cared less as he struck with all he had at the Ogre's forearm. Unfortunately for the elf the wound wasn't deep or painful enough to cause his release. Rather instead it just angered the beast if it's reaction of slamming him into the ground was anything to go by.

Fenris just laid there on the ground as he coughed up a little blood. The Ogre was pulling its left arm back for a punch that would turn the battered elf into a smear on the cave floor. 'Bloody bastard's gonna remember me I'll guarantee that'. Fenris grew a small bloody smile, he still had his sword in hand. Let the thing punch him into paste, he'd make sure his sword found a nice sheath in the Ogre's arm. Before he could react however the Ogre was suddenly bellowing in pain. At first he couldn't figure out why but then he understood as he saw Naruto suddenly swinging through the air on hooked chains the Ogre had ripped from its back.

Naruto was busy trying to figure out how to deal with the Ogre. Most of his tactics had proven to be somewhat ineffective so far and so the blonde shinobi was trying to determine the best approach. He'd already ruled out using taijutsu, since with the armor on its arm and legs plus its size, weight, and physique would block or absorb any attack outside of his sage or jinchurikki modes. Both of which he couldn't use the former from the lack of natural energy and the later for obvious reasons. Genjutsu was also useless though for different reasons. For one while he had learned a few simple ones during the war, he didn't know how or even if genjutsu would work on the Ogre. Second the amount of damage needed to beat the creature would likely break any illusion he cast. This left him with only two options to work with.

'Fuinjutsu is out of the question, so that leaves me with ninjutsu which hasn't really had much effect. Then again I haven't used any of my stronger techniques.' This placed him in a difficult situation as he didn't want to be considered a threat by his companions. He also didn't want to give Varric too much information as that could be just as dangerous if the dwarf was anything like Shikamaru. Unfortunately Naruto didn't have much choice left in the matter as the Ogre attempted to use his chains and slam the blonde shinobi into the ground.

Said shinobi did hit the ground but on his feet rather than his head. Before the Darkspawn could try again Naruto went through a set of rapid hand seals. 'Futon: shinkukin.' he thought before blowing on the chains and pulling hard. The results were astounding for those who didn't understand what had happened. It was as if the Ogre's hand had been ripped open by the claws of some sort of spirit. In reality however, Naruto had simply used the vacuum blade technique to create a wind blade along the length of his chains. The blonde smiled as he was the only person back home capable of using the technique to cover that kind of distance which was understandable given his chakra reserves.

Meanwhile the Ogre released the chains as it bellowed in pain. The Hurlocks seemingly forgotten attempted to rush the distracted shinobi or rather they tried to. The first Hurlock came in from the right with a wild horizontal right swing. Naruto having reeled in his chains ducked under the blow while simultaneously sweeping the creature off it's feet with a kick as he flew through the hands for shinkukin once more. The second was in the process of trying to strike him with an overhead blow from behind. Naruto quickly came up from his sweep kick rotating like a dancer as he avoided the blade choosing to strike at the third Hurlock which had been caught off guard by the action. Naruto didn't hesitate as he lashed out, his fingers spread in a claw like fashion at the Darkspawn's face. While he didn't touch the beasts face with the clawed gauntlet, his wind technique still ripped the creatures face apart. By now the first creature was once more on its feet charging him in tandom with the fourth from opposite sides, to their misfortune however they couldn't move fast enough to prevent Naruto's next attack.

The blonde shinobi raised his right gauntlet at the closest Hurlock, as he focused generic chakra into one of the spiked cylinders. A small bang was heard before the spike disappeared only to shortly reappear in a small explosion of blood from the Hurlock. Naruto yanked on the chain with chakra enchanced muscles pulling the Darkspawn through the air towards him. The shinobi stepped out of the way at the last second however allowing the creature to collide with its comrade ripping the chain and a chunk of its lung out, while knocking them to the ground. Before the last Hurlock could stand up to fight once more Naruto broke its neck with a stomp to its throat. By now the Ogre had recovered and was bull rushing the young man, its left arm drawn across its chest for a backhanded swing. Naruto was prepared for the reckless attack though as he delivered what he hoped would be the finishing blow.

"Futon: Juha Reppu Sho!" He cried out as he performed a right handed palm strike. From his hand came a massive burst of wind that rapidly took the shape of a large demonic looking claw. The wind claw raced forward at blinding speeds, quickly colliding with the large muscular from of the Ogre. For a brief moment it seemed like the Ogre might actually succeed in breaking through the attack only for it to be thrown back hard. Its chest cavity had been shredded while the beasts left arm had been ripped off as a result of the devastating impact and cutting power of Naruto's wind technique.

The blonde shinobi let loose a sigh of relief. It felt good to know that his chakra system, jutsu, and chakra metal were working just fine. Though he would have preferred to determine this outside of battle. The sound of coughing brought the Uzumaki out of his musings as he made his way over to Fenris. Naruto whistled as he gave the battered elf a quick once over. He was impressed Fenris was completely conscious given the beating he'd taken, though judging by the bodies, the elf had given just as much if not more than he'd taken.

"Geez Fenris-san, you look like hammered shit"

The elf would have laughed if not for the severe pain in his rib cage but managed a small bloody smile. "I feel worse than I look"

"I don't know if that's possible Fenris-san. You weren't exactly what I'd call pretty before you got your ass kicked" The whiskered blonde said with a small grin. At this Fenris couldn't help but laugh once before a shooting pain in his ribs silenced him. Naruto spoke once more before the injured elf could launch a retort of his own.

"Still it looks like you gave more than you got despite the odds. At any rate think you can stand?"

Fenris nodded and though his body seemed to scream in protest, the elf managed to stand up right leaning on his sword for support. While he tried to walk it seemed that his body had finally taken a stand, as he began to topple forward. Naruto however managed to prevent his collapse.. Slinging the elf's arm over his shoulders, the blonde used his right arm to hold Fenris by the waist as he helped support his weight as they started towards Varric, Merrill, and his kage bushin which Fenris put down to having been hit too hard when he saw it in the distance.

Fenris couldn't help but notice the damage done to the dead Ogre. He felt a bit disappointed in learning that Naruto was a mage. They had gotten along well with another and the elf had started to genuinely trust the blonde, but now he didn't think he ever would now. He would tolerate the whiskered blonde but he wouldn't trust or view him as a friend.

"Why do you fight like that?"

Naruto tensed a little bit from Fenris's question. He'd been expecting Varric to ask questions not his injured friend. Still it might help his case with the group to provide a few answers, before Varric tried to pull the truth out of him.

"You'll have to be more specific"

"You know full well what I mean mage" While Naruto was able to sense negative emotions in sage mode however he didn't need it to feel the deep seated hatred dripping from that last word.

"Why do you not rely on your magic like every other mage? Its clear you know some devastating spells, so why wouldn't you use it?"

"It might be difficult to believe but I don't have a lot of ranged attacks. Some of them I can only use once I use some of my other skills which won't work in the Deep Roads."

Fenris had been expecting some sort of long and complicated answer to his question which left him surprised and somewhat confused by the shinobi's response. It was then that Naruto told him that most of his spells or jutsu as he called them were made for close quarters. Fenris was left with more questions now than answers. He'd never heard of a mage that would willingly put themselves at risk by engaging in close combat, particularly when they could kill so effectively from a safe distance. But then here was Naruto, a mage who not only did so but knew magic which was made for melee combat. Yet before Fenris could ask anything else, Naruto suddenly shoved him away. As he hit the ground he quickly understood why.

The only warning Naruto had received was the slight clinking of chainmail. His eyes widening in realization the blonde pushed the wounded Fenris away and to safety as a large blade was thrust forward to occupy the space where the elf had been. Just as quickly as the blade had thrust forward it was swung towards the blondes knee caps in an attempt to cripple him. Naruto had already hopped back safely out of reach in addition getting a glimpse of the attacker. It was the armored Hurlock that had been giving Fenris difficulty.

'With all that metal armor spreading the electrical current through it's body it should've died. So how the hell is it still alive?'

Before Naruto could think any further the Hurlock rushed him going for a broad two hand swing. Naruto also rushed forward hoping to quickly end the battle. It was only thanks to his years of training and battle experience that he was prepared for the Hurlock's feint. He doubted anyone other than another shinobi would have noticed the subtle shift in his opponent's stance at the last second. As Naruto easily got inside the creature's it lashed out with its true attack. Instead of swinging the blade the Hurlock thrust it forward in an attempt to stun the blonde with the hilt. Naruto was prepared as he grabbed the hilt with his right hand while simultaneously reaching with the other to rip out his enemies throat.

He heard a click before his hand was engulfed in a burning pain. To the Hurlock's misfortune though the hidden hilt blade didn't stop the shinobi from ripping out its throat. Despite being fatally wounded however, the Hurlock kept pushing the hilt blade into Naruto's hand as if rejecting its enevitable demise would save it from death. For a moment given the creatures ferocity, Naruto was worried it might not die. His irrational worry was resolved though as the Darkspawn fell to it's knees. The blade slipping from its lifeless fingers hit the ground with a few hollow metallic sounds as the hilt broke. The Hurlock toppeled over on its right side, a pool of blood forming around it. The victorious shinobi made his way back over towards Fenris who was currently being supported by his kage bushin. Varric was busy scavenging and cleaning arrows for Bianca, while Marrill was attempting to help Fenris who was having none of it.

"Alright Daisy I've got about seven shots, I'm gonna be relying on you for the most part..." It was at this point that Varric had looked up from his freshly loaded cross bow to notice two identical Naruto's standing in front of him. Naruto found his expression rather amusing as it kept switching between confusion, frustration, and disbelief, while his mouth kept opening and closing like a fish trapped on land. Naruto's clone couldn't help but notice as well as it gave him a brief glance the two sharing an evil grin.

"**Hello** Varric-**san** you **feeling** ok?"

Varric didn't take that so well as he just started pointing from Naruto to the shadow clone and back and forth, his mouth trying to form words that never came out. Merrill on the other hand was taking it much better, though she started poking the shadow clone as if to make sure it was real.

"There **something** I **can** help **you** with **Merrill**-chan?"

Merrill looked between the two speakers while the original moved to support Fenris on his unoccupied side. For a moment she seemed like she wanted to speak but instead just shook her head. Meanwhile Varric had managed to pull himself together an explain the plan which was to find Mason and Ander's since the two mages had been gone to long. The Naruto's as he said would take up the rear so that they could keep an eye on Sandal in the middle. Meanwhile the dwarf had Merrill take point with him partly due to the lack of bolts, but mainly to keep an eye on her. While it didn't seem like an overly good strategy both Naruto and Varric understood the true reason for this formation. Given Naruto's speed if things went badly Varric fully expected the shinobi to end up showcasing some of his skills, and Naruto wouldn't refuse to save anyone.

As the group left the cooking grounds however, none of them noticed the black liquid that had coated the blade of the Hurlock's sword dripping off and out of the broken hilt and its hidden blade.

futon: shinkukin (wind release: vacuum blade) is a wind enhancement technique for longer range melee attacks that are sharper

futon: renkudan (wind release: drilling air bullet) highly compressed air that causes massive damage in the form of an explosion

Futon: Uzumaki Sutairu: Anchixe Indo no Daikronnodansu (Wind release: Uzumaki style: Dance of the Unchained Maelstrom)

Futon: Juha Reppu Sho (Beast Wave Gale Palm) another hand seal free technique like the rasengan

Out of all these techniques the only one I actually own is the Dance of the Unchained Maelstrom since I did create it.


End file.
